Aesthetics of Popular Culture

Book excerpt: Discussing popular culture is one of the keys for understanding arts and more broadly culture. This is something which seems to be shared by the scholars who have contributed to this book. Their essays on popular culture and/or the aesthetics of popular culture serve as a platform for discussing cultural, ethical and political issues. Popular culture and its philosophical reflection also help to unlock themes in law, children's literature, everyday aesthetics, high-cultural heritage, the internet, and material culture. In the Interviews section editors discuss some of the roots of these issues with two thinkers who represent the cream of the discussion. With Richard Shusterman, we delve into his theory of popular culture, and with Gianni Vattimo, the popular goes hand in hand with a discussion that more broadly touches on culture and the arts.