The Aesthetic Value of the World

In this book, Tom Cochrane defends Aestheticism, the claim that everything is aesthetically valuable and that a life lived in pursuit of aesthetic value can be a particularly good one.

Tom Cochrane studied philosophy at University College London, before completing an MA in music composition at Birmingham Conservatoire and a PhD in philosophy at the University of Nottingham. Following his PhD, Cochrane held postdoctoral research positions at the University of Geneva and Queen's University Belfast. He was then a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Sheffield and the University of York before joining Flinders University in 2018. His main areas of expertise are the philosophy of emotions and related issues in psychology, extended and collective cognition, and aesthetics.

- Introduction - 1: Aesthetic Value - 2: The Beautiful - 3: The Sublime - 4: The Dramatic - 5: The Tragic - 6: The Comic - 7: In Defence of Aestheticism - 8: The Creation of Art - Appendix: Minor Aesthetic Values