Books by Richard Shusterman

Applying contemporary pragmatism to the crucial question of how philosophy can help us live better, the author develops his aesthetic model of philosophical living that includes politics, somatics and ethnicity. The text includes discussion of major 20th-century pragmatists.

Current philosophies of art remain sadly dominated by visions of its end and lamentations of decline. Defining the very notions of art and the aesthetic as special products of Western modernity, they suggest that postmodern challenges to traditional...

A paradox of surface and depth pervades the field of aesthetics. How can art's surface meanings and qualities be properly appreciated without understanding the cultural context that shapes their creation and perception? But exploring such underlying...