TEM-4 Exercise 4

Decide which of the choices given below would correctly complete the passage if inserted in the corresponding blanks. Select the correct choice for each blank.

Aesthetic thought of a distinctively modern bent emerged during the 18th century.    The western philosophers and critics of this time devoted much attention to such matters (1)_____ natural beauty, the sublime, and representation -- a trend reflecting the central position they had given to the philosophy of nature.    (2)_____ that time, however, the philosophy of art has become ever more (3)_____ and has begun to (4)_____ the philosophy of nature.    Various issues (5)_____ to the philosophy of art have had a (6)_____ impact (7)_____ the orientation of 20th-century aesthetics.    (8)_____ among these are problems relating to the theory of art as form and (9)_____ the distinction between representation and expression.    Still another far-reaching question has to do with the value of art.    Two opposing theoretical positions (10)_____ on this issue: one holds that art and its appreciation are a means to some recognized moral good, (11)_____ the other maintains that art is intrinsically valuable and is an end in itself.    Underlying this whole issue is the concept of taste, one of the basic concerns of aesthetics.    In recent years there has also been an increasing (12)_____ with art as the prime object of critical judgment.    Corresponding to the trend in contemporary aesthetic thought, (13)_____ have followed (14)_____ of two approaches.    In one, criticism is restricted to the analysis and interpretation of the work of art.    (15)_____, it is devoted to articulating the response to the aesthetic object and to (16)_____ a particular way of perceiving it.

Over the years, aesthetics has developed into a broad field of knowledge and inquiry.  &n