Preface 
If artists and writers are constantly inquiring into the role and place their 
work and they themselves have in the world and society, then aestheticians have 
recently been inquiring mostly into the nature, meaning and significance of aesthetics. 
The organizers of the XTVth International Congress for Aesthetics »Aesthetics as 
Philosophy« (Ljubljana, 1-5 September 1998) were of the opinion that a possible 
response to such an inquiry is for aesthetics to strengthen its links with philosophy 
as that all-encompassing reflection upon the human world which is exemplified by 
its perpetual critical stance towards reality and the meanings that are ascribed to 
it. 
Aesthetics can be a reflection upon beauty, art and other natural and human 
phenomena. This reflection is predominantly theoretical, and only as such can it 
remain or become philosophical too. It is true though, that as have aporias such as 
the »right« balance betiveen form and content in an artwork drifted into oblivion, 
so has a similar dilemma about the »right« balance between theory and practice. 
For aestheticians as philosophers, i.e. critical theoretical thinkers, such issues have 
become obsolete, for not only is our social reality becoming increasingly integrated, 
but so are social practices and the humanities, as that broaderframework of aesthetics. 
The latter offers critical theoretical tools previously used only with difficulty because 
of disciplinary and other divisions. 
This integration resembles the present globalization, an on-going process that 
was also clearly visible at this aesthetics congress. Globalization allows us not only 
to understand what aestheticians are doing on the other side of the globe (or perhaps 
in the university department across the street), but also to employ and use the results 
of their work as never before in history. What »they« are doing is ceasing to be limited 
to an object of academic curiosity and becoming something that »we« understand 
and use. 
It is my pleasure to note that the theme »Aesthetics as Philosophy« has attracted 
to Ljubljana around 550 participants from 48 countries. Almost 200 of these have 
submitted their paper for publication in theXTV ICA Proceedings. The two volumes 
of Proceedings contain the invited papers (vol. 1) and a selection of the papers 
presented in the ten sections (vol. 2). The organizers of the XTVth International 
Congress for Aesthetics were very delighted to see that the congress generated so much 
interest and that aestheticians from so many different countries and cultures came 
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to Ljubljana to present their papers, take part in the discussions, and attend various 
artistic and cultural events that took place during the congress. Without them and 
their efforts this congress would not have been a success. I mould therefore like to 
thank all the congress participants, as well as all the others who helped us hold this 
event. 
Ales Erjavec 
fuly 1999