Art as Human Practice

[This] book builds an important bridge between contemporary Continental and Anglo-American philosophy of art, as Bertram rather seamlessly discusses figures who rarely meet under the same cover … [It] should provoke thoughtful discussion on whether and/or to what extent art should be viewed in a less object-centered manner, as a reflective practice. * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *
In his groundbreaking new book, Georg Bertram argues that human beings turn to artistic meaning-making precisely when they are foundering in practice or confused about how to find coherence and value in their practical lives––a recurring phenomenon within the disruptions of modernity. Audiences of artworks in turn participate imaginatively in the work’s sensuous-formal exploration of new possibilities of sense. In this way, Bertram shows how art is neither a matter of entertainment alone nor theoretical insight alone, but instead urgently and intimately part of the ongoing, reciprocal self-constitution of subjects as bearers of stances within and on practices. There is no better account than this of how and why art matters. -- Richard Eldridge, Charles and Harriett Cox McDowell Professor of Philosophy, Swarthmore College, USA