Before the publication of Aesthetics from Classical Greece to the Present there were three histories of aesthetics in English--Bosanquet's pioneering work, the second part of Croce's Aesthetic in the Ainsle translation, and the comprehensive volume by Gilbert and Kuhn. While each of these is interesting in its own ways, and together they cover a good deal of ground, none of them is very new. Thus none could take advantage of recent work on many important philosophers and periods and bring into a consideration of the past the best concepts and principles that have been developed by present-day philosophy.

In Aesthetics from Classical Greece to the Present the author seeks to bring these principles to the forefront in exploring the history of aesthetics.