Aesthetics: The Philosophical Study of Beauty and Taste

Aesthetics

Aesthetics

• defined as the philosophy of beauty and taste.

• It is closely tied to the philosophy of art.

• Explores beauty, ugliness, the sublime, elegance, taste, criticism, fine art, contemplation, sensuous enjoyment, and charm.

beauty and taste

“What should a philosopher study in order to understand such ideas as __________?”

taste

The notion of the aesthetic originates from the notion of ______

18th

The significant philosophical interest in taste during the ___ century is intricate

Rationalism regarding beauty

posits that judgments of beauty stem from reason; in other words, we assess things as beautiful through a process of reasoning, often involving deduction from principles or application of concepts.

Egoism

concerning virtue, it suggests that deeming an action or quality virtuous entails finding pleasure in it due to the belief that it serves one's interests.

Hobbesian perspective

A prominent example asserting that considering an action or quality virtuous stems from finding pleasure in it due to the belief that it enhances personal safety.

Aesthetic formalism

posits that the properties of an artwork that are artistically significant—those that determine its status as an artwork and its quality—are solely formal. 

Formal properties

typically understood as properties perceivable through sight or hearing alone, are considered the primary factors in determining the artistic merit of an artwork.

music and painting

Prominent formalist advocates were professional critics like Eduard Hanslick, Clive Bell, and Clement Greenberg, who championed formal properties in _____________

formalism

Monroe Beardsley and Nick Zangwill also defended _______, but the rise of conceptual art challenged its validity, particularly highlighted by Arthur Danto's critique.

Kendall Walton

critiqued formalism, asserting that aesthetic properties depend on the perceived category of the artwork, challenging the notion of solely formal properties.

Allen Carlson

extended Walton's argument to the aesthetics of nature, suggesting that aesthetic judgments about natural items also depend on their perceived categories, undermining the idea of formalism in nature.

principles

The eighteenth-century debate between rationalists and theorists of taste centered on the immediacy thesis, questioning whether beauty judgments rely on applying _________

Particularists

like Arnold Isenberg and Frank Sibley argue against the existence of principles governing aesthetic judgment, emphasizing the role of perceptual experience in guiding aesthetic evaluation.

Generalists

such as Monroe Beardsley and George Dickie assert the existence of general aesthetic principles, highlighting inherently positive properties like grace or dramatic intensity.

immediacy thesis

The _________________, asserting that aesthetic judgments are non-inferential, is widely accepted but has faced challenges from critics like Davies and Bender, who propose alternative principles for justifying aesthetic verdicts.

Kantian

The ________ notion of disinterest in aesthetic judgment transitioned to aesthetic-attitude theories in the early to mid-20th century.

Kant

described aesthetic judgment as contemplative rather than practical, leading to the idea that the aesthetic attitude is disinterested, unconcerned with practical aims.

aesthetic theory

Schopenhauer's ____________ shifted focus from disinterested pleasure to disinterested attention, suggesting that aesthetic value lies in will-less contemplation, providing a respite from desire-induced pain.

aesthetic-attitude

Edward Bullough and Jerome Stolnitz developed influential ______________ theories, emphasizing disinterested and sympathetic attention to objects for aesthetic appreciation.

attitude

Stolnitz defines the aesthetic __________ as attending to an object with no purpose beyond attending, resulting in a richer experience of its features.

psychical distance

Bullough, preferring the term "___________”, suggests achieving aesthetic appreciation by detaching oneself from personal needs and interpreting subjective affections as characteristics of the phenomenon.

The Fall of Miletus

While the notions of disinterest and psychical distance may not fully define the aesthetic attitude, they remain useful in explaining certain aesthetic experiences, such as the Athenian reaction to Phrynicus's tragedy "_______________"

aesthetic experience

Theories of _________ can be categorized into internalist and externalist theories, depending on whether they appeal to features internal or external to the experience.

Internalist theories

predominant in the early to mid-20th century, focus on phenomenological features of experience, such as focus, intensity, coherence, and completeness.

Beardsley

__________'s internalist theory, outlined in "Aesthetics" (1958), identifies focus, intensity, coherence, and completeness as key features of aesthetic experience.

Externalist theories

define aesthetic experience as an experience with aesthetic content, focusing on the object's aesthetic features rather than internal experiential qualities.

What makes aesthetic value aesthetic?

• This question is sometimes referred to as the demarcation question. 

• The prevailing answer to this question is aesthetic formalism, which asserts that aesthetic value derives from objects' perceptual properties. 

What makes aesthetic value?

• This question is sometimes referred to as the normative question. 

• The prevailing answer to this question is aesthetic hedonism, which suggests that aesthetic value is valuable because it provides pleasure when experienced. 

Aesthetic formalism

posits that aesthetic value is perceptual and can be attributed strictly to an object's perceptual properties. However, it struggles to account for the aesthetic value attributed to non-perceptual properties, such as those found in literature. 

Aesthetic hedonism

asserts that the value of aesthetic objects lies in the pleasure they afford when experienced. However, objections have arisen, challenging its ability to explain certain aspects of aesthetic experience, such as instances where pleasure is not the primary response.

The Aesthetic Question

“What makes aesthetic value aesthetic?” is also known as

The Normative Question

“What makes aesthetic value?” is also known as