Introduction : the claim of art : aesthetic philosophy and early modern artistry / Paul A. Kottman -- Allegory, poetic theology, and enlightenment aesthetics / Victoria Kahn -- Object lessons : reification and renaissance epitaphic poetry / Rachel Eisendrath -- How do we recognize metaphysical poetry? / Andrew Cutrofello -- Literature, prejudice, historicity : the philosophical importance of Herder's Shakespeare studies / Kristin Gjesdal -- Reaching conclusions : art and philosophy in Hegel and Shakespeare / Paul A. Kottman -- "All art constantly aspires to the condition of music" : except the art of music : reviewing the contest of the sister arts / Lydia Goehr -- The beauty of architecture at the end of the seventeenth century in Paris, Greece, and Rome / Maarten Delbeke -- Strokes of wit : theorizing beauty in Baroque Italy / Jon R. Snyder -- Goya : secularization and the aesthetics of belief / Anthony J. Cascardi -- Remembering Isaac : on the impossibility and immorality of faith / J.M. Bernstein.