This book reflects the most recent research devoted to a systematized perspective and a critical (re)construction of previous theoretical attempts of explaining, justifying and continuing Kuhn’s ingenious hypothesis in arts. Hofstadter, Clignet and Habermas revealed to be the most engaged scholars in solving this aesthetic "puzzled-problem". In this context, the structural similarities between science and arts are attentively evaluated, thus satisfying an older concern attributed to the historical Kuhn-Kubler dispute, extensively commented along the pages of this book. How can we track the matter of rationality and truth in art and aesthetics, inspired by scientific perspectives? Are artistic styles similar to scientific paradigms? Are we entitled to pursue paradigms and masterpieces as rational models in science, respectively in arts? On what possible grounds can we borrow from science notions such as progress and predictability, in the study of the evolution of art and its aesthetic backgrounds? Are the historical dynamics of science and art affected by political factors in the same manner? This book will be of interest to philosophers, but also to historians of science and historians of art alike in the reassessment it provides of recent debates on reshaping the art world using Kuhn's "paradigm shift".

This edited collection examines alternative or entangled modernities as competitive narratives that blend ethics, aesthetics, and critical thinking to depict the human condition. It includes chapters covering the rivalry between scientific and aesthetic revolutions; contemporary trends in postmodernity; and study-cases on visual arts and cinema. The collection applies a philosophical view of visual arts and cinema, and competitive narratives of (post)modernity that arise from ethics and aesthetics as complementary fields. Key audiences for the book are students, PhD candidates, and scholars from the field of philosophy, aesthetics and cultural studies. This volume emerges from contributions held at the International Conference Rethinking Modernity: Transitions and Challenges, organized by the Research Center for the History and Circulation of Philosophical Ideas of the University of Bucharest.

Inspired by Bourdieu’s thought, this book explores the notion of cultural capital, offering insights into its various definitions, its evolution and the critical theories that engage with it. Designed for use by students and teachers, it addresses the limitations and expansion of Bourdieu's theory of capital and power, considering the relationship between cultural, social and human capital, the distinctions between capital and capitalism, and the conflicts that exist among theories that have emerged in response to – or can be brought to bear on – Bourdieu’s work. Engaging with the thought of Max Weber, Fernand Braudel, Daniel Bell, Herbert Marcuse, Jean Baudrillard, Theodore Adorno, Max Horkheimer and Gilles Lipovetsky, Cultural Capital and Creative Communication represents the first book to develop a field of research and study that is devoted to cultural capital. Richly illustrated with empirical examples and offering assessment exercises, it will appeal not only to scholars and students of sociology, philosophy and social theory, but also to corporate communities who seek to develop training modules on the increase of their cultural capital.

Explaining why he embraced the theory of relativity, the Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist P. A. M. Dirac stated, "It is the essential beauty of the theory which I feel is the real reason for believing in it." How reasonable and rational can science be when its practitioners speak of "revolutions" in their thinking and extol certain theories for their "beauty"? James W. McAllister addresses this question with the first systematic study of the aesthetic evaluations that scientists pass on their theories.Using a wealth of other examples, McAllister explains how scientists' aesthetic preferences are influenced by the empirical track record of theories, describes the origin and development of aesthetic styles of theorizing, and reconsiders whether simplicity is an empirical or an aesthetic virtue of theories. McAllister then advances an innovative model of scientific revolutions, in opposition to that of Thomas S. Kuhn.Three detailed studies demonstrate the interconnection of empirical performance, beauty, and revolution. One examines the impact of new construction materials on the history of architecture. Another reexamines the transition from the Ptolemaic system to Kepler's theory in planetary astronomy, and the third documents the rise of relativity and quantum theory in the twentieth century.