Everyday Aesthetics: Prosaics, the Play of Culture and Social Identities

Katya Mandoki

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., Jan 1, 2007 - Philosophy - 327 pages

Aesthetic studies have traditionally been confined to the analysis of art and beauty. In this book, Katya Mandoki advances the thesis that it is not only possible but urgent to open up aesthetic studies toward the richness and complexity of contemporary social life. Mandoki analyzes common situations in contexts such as the family, school, religion, medical and funerary traditions to detect the aesthetic strategies by which these practices acquire significance. Starting from Dewey's pragmatism and biologically inspired philosophy, Mandoki updates key debates in aesthetics to project them into the realm of a socio-aesthetic inquiry. She argues that in every process of communication, whether face to face interactions or through the media, fashion, marketing, or political propaganda, there is always an excess beyond the informative and functional value of a message: this excess is the aesthetic. Teachers and students interested in qualitative analyses in humanities and social sciences will find an original, precise and insightful proposal in this book.

Contents

• PART: 1
• The Fetishes of Aesthetics: 7
• The Myths of Aesthetics: 15
• The Fears of Aesthetics: 37
• PART 2: 43
• 1: 51
• Basic Categories for Aesthetic Analysis: 53
• ObjectRelated Distinctions: 57
• The A Priori: 61
• Aesthetic LatchingOn: 67
• PART 3: 73
• 1: 80
• The Tangents of Prosaics: 81
• The Nutrients of Prosaics: 87
• The Play of Culture: 93
• 1: 94
• 1: 106
• The Axis of the Signic: 109
• The Axis of the Symbolic: 115
• 1: 117
• 1: 123
• The NonAxis of the Obtuse: 125
• Aesthetic Enunciation and its Dialogical Character: 131
• 1: 137
• Rhetoric and its Registers: 139
• Dramatics and its Modalities: 149
• 1: 153
• The RhetoricDramatic Coupling: 155
• ConFormations of the RhetoricDramatic Coupling: 169
• 1: 170
• MATRIXES AND IDENTITIES: 177
• Diachronic and Synchronic Perspective of Cultural Matrixes: 185
• The Family Matrix: 195
• The Religion Matrix: 205
• The School Matrix: 237
• The Medical Matrix: 247
• The Occultist Matrix: 257
• The Arts Matrix: 269
• Conclusions Matricial Symbols and Aesthetic Games: 295
• References: 301
• 33www: 310
• 35: 313
• PART 4: 324

About the author

Katya Mandoki is Professor of Aesthetics, Semiotics and Design at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Everyday Aesthetics: Prosaics, the Play of Culture and Social Identities
• Author: Katya Mandoki
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007
• ISBN: 0754658899, 9780754658894
• Length: 327 pages
• Subjects: Philosophy / Aesthetics