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The notion of beauty as a point of transit between the sensuous and the ideal is well-established in the history of Western philosophy. Describing this transition and seeking to rethink the ways in which humans understand the things they nd beautiful in life Harry Underwoods The Experi- ence of Beauty approaches the notion of beauty through the insights of major but distinctively individual philosophers and artists. Underwood considers the principal instances of beauty as it reveals itself in everyday experience as a concept in the mind of the philosopher as the artists vision and as the shining image of the ideal. Considering the perspectives of many notable gures in the Western canon of philoso- phy and literature for whom beauty and the imag- ination have mattered including Plato Nietzsche Auden Coleridge Proust and Iris Murdoch Underwood draws out a rounded sense of beauty. It is shown to be on one view inherent in a perceptible order and on another to be an expression of the will to confer meaning on a meaningless world. In art beauty reveals itself to be both perceived and created and a world- disclosing truth-relaying force. As a nal matter Underwood asks what it means to embrace your own vision of beauty and apply it to your lifes work. A quietly provocative meditation on the mys- tery of beauty this collection of essays contends that beauty serves life as an inspiration not merely as an ornament. Harry Underwood is a trial lawyer in Toronto. 2 1 M Q U P F A L L 2 0 1 6 P H I L O S O P H Y A E S T H E T I C S The Experience of Beauty Seven Essays and a Dialogue harry underwood An original answer to a question of permanent interest the place of beauty in our lives. S P E C I F I C AT I O N S October 2016 978-0-7735-4801-5 29.95T CDN 29.95T US 22.99 cloth 5.5 x 8.5 176pp Ebook available