Three New Books Question the Tools and Limits of Aesthetics

Three recent publications—Pierre Rodrigo's 'L'Étoffe de l'art' (Desclée de Brouwer), the collective 'L'Œuvre d'art et la critique' (Klincksieck), and Richard Shusterman's 'Vivre la philosophie, Pragmatisme et art de vivre' (Klincksieck)—reveal the diversity and limitations of contemporary theoretical approaches to art. Rodrigo proposes a phenomenological method centered on an 'Élément' that resists analysis, but his critique of idealist aesthetics omits major theorists like Benjamin, Adorno, and Habermas. The 'Interarts' seminar proceedings include seventeen contributors from ten French and foreign universities, with texts by Icleia Maria Borsa Cattani and Mônica Zielinsky on global artistic recognition, Marc Jimenez on the 'new aesthetics' modeled on the 'new economy,' and Michel Sicard comparing methodologies of Barthes, Lyotard, Deleuze, Serres, and Sartre. Shusterman argues for a return to philosophy as a lived, embodied practice, drawing on Wittgenstein, Dewey, and Foucault, and ultimately advocating for dance and rap over discourse. However, his critique of Diogenes' Cynicism reveals a tension between aesthetic revolution and social norms.