Philosophies of Art and Beauty is a thorough historical survey of philosophies of the arts. It provides descriptive analyses of the most significant and influential art forms which help to define European culture, past and present: literature, drama, music, architecture, sculpture and painting. They are considered in relation to theories of art, aesthetic theories and poetics, which have emerged from the human need to reflect upon the arts in order to discover their nature, value and social and cultural roles. Philosophies of Art and Beauty offers a history of European philosophical systems and aesthetic and poetic theories together with explanatory descriptions of the major Western arts, both in their current forms and as they have developed from their beginnings to the present.