Stanley Cavell, undoubtedly one of the most singular and influential voices in contemporary philosophy and culture at large, has written extensively on modernist art–particularly on painting, photography, music, and literature. He has also dedicated an impressive body of work to cinema, whose complex and nuanced status in regard to modernism constitutes one of Cavell’s main concerns. However, Cavell’s importance for understanding modernism is not exhausted by his interest in, and analyses of, modernist art and literature. Equally significant, and perhaps even more original, is his understanding of ordinary language philosophy as a modernist enterprise in its own terms.

Following the template for the Understanding Philosophy, Understanding Modernism series, this volume is divided into three distinct parts. The first part, Conceptualizing Cavell, features introductory essays on Cavell’s most important works. The second part, Cavell and Aesthetics, delves into more specific aspects and problems pertaining to Cavell’s aesthetics and its moral and political implications. The third part is an extended glossary of Cavell’s key words and concepts.