Feeling and reason in the arts /

Concerned that there can be no place for the arts in education if artistic judgments cannot be rationally justified, Best (University College of Swansea) posits an argument that stresses the inseparable interdependence between artistic meaning and the life of society. Criticizing both subjectivists (or dualists) and behaviorists because of their misconceptions about the nature of knowledge, Best correctly emphasizes the natural ways of acting and responding that underlie both the concept and the conventions of art. Although reasoning cannot provide an underlying justification for artistic appreciation, he argues cogently that artistic judgments can be justified inasmuch as artistic appreciation, like any understanding, allows for indefinite but not unlimited possibility of interpretation. Since half of the chapters have previously appeared in journals, there is a slight repetition of arguments, which act as educational reinforcement. The list of 75 references is excellent, providing a fine start for someone to consider the place of creativity, the imagination, feelings, and the aesthetic in social theory. This is a good book for undergraduate and graduate libraries to acquire.-G.A. Rudolph, University of Nebraska-Lincoln