Abstract

With appealing modesty, Savile sets out to establish and justify only one specific element of philosophical aesthetics: the "test of time." The "test of time" is of course the traditional appeal by art-critics to longevity as a necessary and sufficient condition of great art. Recently, the test of time has suffered a great deal of vituperation from practitioners of aesthetics; indeed, one might even go so far as to say that holding this notion has been regarded as a mark of philosophical naivete. Therefore Savile's task in The Test of Time is made difficult not only by the inherent complexity of the issue but also by the baleful glare of conventional wisdom.