Beyond Aesthetics brings together philosophical essays addressing art and related issues by one of the foremost philosophers of art at work today. Countering conventional aesthetic theories--those maintaining that authorial intention, art history, morality and emotional responses are irrelevant to the experience of art--Noël Carroll argues for a more pluralistic and commonsensical view in which all of these factors can play a legitimate role in our encounter with art works. The book explores works of high culture and the avant-garde, as well as works of popular culture, jokes, horror novels, and suspense films.