Aesthetics in Grief and Mourning: Philosophical Reflections on Coping with Loss - Hardcover

by Kathleen Marie Higgins (Author)

A philosophical exploration of aesthetic experience during bereavement.

In Aesthetics of Grief and Mourning, philosopher Kathleen Marie Higgins reflects on the ways that aesthetics aids people experiencing loss. Some practices related to bereavement, such as funerals, are scripted, but many others are recursive, improvisational, mundane--telling stories, listening to music, and reflecting on art or literature. Higgins shows how these grounding, aesthetic practices can ease the disorienting effects of loss, shedding new light on the importance of aesthetics for personal and communal flourishing.

Author Biography

Kathleen Marie Higgins is professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of several books including The Music between Us: Is Music a Universal Language?, also published by the University of Chicago Press.