Morris Weitz

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Morris Weitz ([wi:ts]) (July 24, 1916 - 1981) was an American aesthetician. He received his doctorate from the University of Michigan. During the course of his career he taught at Vassar College, at Ohio State University and at Brandeis University. Weitz' groundbreaking work spurred much debate within the philosophy of art where he argued from Wittgensteins family resemblance argument that it is impossible to define art. He is widely considered to have renewed interest within the analytical philosophy for aesthetics, where most tried to challenge his claim. Weitz developed a philosophy of criticism, in which the critic must describe, interpret, evaluate, and finally theorize about the work in question.

[edit] Literary works

• Philosophy in literature, 1963
• Philosophy of the arts, 1964
• Hamlet and the philosophy of literary criticism, 1964
• editor of "Problems in aesthetics", 1959, ²1970

[edit] External reference

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B01E5DE133BF937A35751C0A967948260