Böcker av Alan (Director of Graduate Studies Singer

Focuses on the phenomenon of self-deception, and proposes a radical revision of our commonplace understanding of it as a token of irrationality. Argues that self-deception can illuminate the rationalistic functions of character.

The category of the aesthetic has been accused of promoting class-based ideologies of distinction, of cultivating political apathy, and of indulging irrational sensuous decadence. This work re-examines the history of aesthetic theorizing that has led to this critical alienation from works of art.