''User:Sam Spade'' 07:16, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)
==Generally==
I am prepared to consider writing one or two stand-alone, introductory pages that would form the basis of an explanation for some of the material in the pages that I've worked on. The structuralism page isn't too bad but there is nothing on paradigmatic analysis so that would be a good place to start. The material on semiotics is somewhat superficial as are the subelements on particular individuals. . . Why don't you e-mail me and we can try to agree a strategy for pooling resources on aesthetics and semiotics, and ethics (which I taught for a year or two some twenty years ago). --User:David91 18:07, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)
:''Click here to see current progress on User:Slac/Aesthetics''.
Slac is an acronym for Simple line art creations, a now defunct art studio I created for exploring forms of art under a lense of practical minimalism. Now I just read and go to school.
I've just joined WikiProject Philosophy and I also hope to see a blue link for WikiProject Aesthetics before I start it myself. My main focus is on rewriting the Aesthetics article to make it more representative of the field. The current version is just wiktionary:woebegone.
To facilitate this endeavor, I am taking courses in Philosophy of Art and Beauty, alongside more accelerated independent research. Since I am intensely reading literature on this and related topics, my goal is to share my learning and work with others to make the Aesthetics articles (and related topics) into featured articles. I look forward to working with all of you and hope that you will not be frustrated by the arduous work that is necessary for all human collaboration.
Even though my focus will be Aesthetics, I am reasonably conversant in the other major areas of philosophy, particularly Ethics and Business ethics. On the side I am a student of business, majoring in Economics, and will graduate from Marquette University in December 2005. Occasionally I will make edits to various business and economics articles as well.
I am a strong autodidact, who is driven to learn and not stop learning about any subject. So, because I do not even have an undergraduate degree yet (and moreover because it will not be in philosophy) does not necessarily mean that I am any less valuable. May shame be on those of you who think otherwise.
The following books, along with material learned from my courses, will comprise the base for my additions.
===Bibliography (so far, as of date on this page)===
* Aesthetics: Problems in the Philosophy of Criticism
* Art and Its Significance: An Anthology of Aesthetic Theory
** Plato's ''Republic'' (II, III, & X)
** Plato's ''Ion''
** Plato's ''Symposium.''
** Aristotle's ''Poetics''
** Aristotle's ''Nicomachean Ethics''
** David Hume's ''Of the Standard of Taste''
** Immanuel Kant's ''Critique of Judgment''
** G. W. F. Hegel's ''Philosophy of Fine Art'' (Introduction)
** Friedrich Nietzsche's ''The Birth of Tragedy'' and ''Attempt at a Self-Criticism''
** Leo Tolstoy's ''What is Art?''
** Clive Bell's ''Art''
** R. G. Collinwood's ''Principles of Art''
** John Dewey's ''Art as Experience''
** Susanne Langer's ''Feeling and Form''
** Arthur Danto's ''The Artworld''
--User:Slac 23:50, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)