Beauty and the Senses - Moving On: QUIZ 2

What Greek word does "aesthetics" come from?

Aistheésis (meaning sensation)

In what century did the philosophy of art become known as "aesthetics"?

The eighteenth century (1700s)

According to Kant, what pleases immediately and without concepts?

The beautiful

In the first part of the Summa, what did Aquinas say the beautiful is pleasing to?

Sight

Which two senses did Aquinas say beauty relates to in the second part of the Summa?

Sight and hearing

Why did Aquinas choose sight and hearing as the senses for beauty?

Because they are the most cognitive (thinking-related) senses

What example is given of a sensory pleasure?

A hot bath

What example is given of an intellectual pleasure?

A mathematical puzzle

In which book did Ruskin distinguish between sensuous interest and true interest in art?

Modern Painters

What term did Ruskin use for merely sensuous interest?

Aesthesis

What term did Ruskin use for the true interest in art?

Theoria (from the Greek word for contemplation)

Did most thinkers adopt Ruskin's term "theoria"?

No, they kept using the term "aesthesis"

If we tie a novel's beauty only to sound, what problem arises with translations?

We would have to consider a translated novel a completely different work of art

What three things make a novel interesting according to the passage?

The unfolding of a story, the controlled release of information about an imaginary world, and reflections that accompany the plot

Which three senses have many philosophers excluded from the experience of beauty?

Taste, touch, and smell

What do people do with favorite passages from novels long after knowing the plot?

They read them over, allowing the sentences to percolate through their thoughts

What three elements of storytelling are described as sensory features?

The order in which a story unfolds, suspense, and the balance between narrative, dialogue, and commentary

What two examples are given of objects of sensory delight?

A luxurious chocolate and a fine old wine

According to the passage, where is a novel directed through the senses?

To the mind

What four examples of beautiful things are given at the beginning of the passage?

A face, a flower, a melody, and a colour

What four non-sensory examples of beauty are mentioned?

A novel, a sermon, a theory in physics, and a mathematical proof

What author's short stories are used as an example in this passage?

Chekhov

What do Chekhov's sentences do as much as they reveal?

They withhold (or imply as much as they say)

What kind of logic do Chekhov's sentences follow?

The logic of things observed rather than things summarized

What does a drop of dew contain, according to the metaphor about Chekhov's art?

The sky

When following a Chekhov story, what are we constructing?

A world whose interpretation is controlled by the sights and sounds we imagine

Where have philosophers placed taste and smell in relation to beauty?

On the margins of our interest in beauty

What can sounds be organized into that tastes and smells cannot?

Words and tones

In what way can we relish tastes and smells?

Only in a sensual way that barely engages our imagination or thought

Why are tastes and smells insufficient for prompting interest in beauty?

They are insufficiently intellectual

What does the author propose we consider instead of the 'immediate' or 'sensory' character of beauty?

The way in which an object comes before us (its presentation)

When we refer to 'aesthetic' pleasure in beauty, what do we have in mind?

Presentation, rather than sensation

According to the tentative conclusion, when do we call something beautiful?

When we gain pleasure from contemplating it as an individual object, for its own sake, and in its presented form

What two examples are given of things that are not individual objects but unbounded collections?

Landscapes and streets

What year was the Characteristics published?

1711

Who wrote the Characteristics?

The third Earl of Shaftesbury

Who was Shaftesbury a pupil of?

Locke

What concept did Shaftesbury use to explain the judgement of beauty?

The disinterested attitude of the judge

What year was Kant's Critique of Judgement published?

1795

What two examples are given of using things with an 'interested' approach?

Using a hammer to drive in a nail or using a person to carry a message

According to the passage, what kind of attitudes do animals have?

Only 'interested' attitudes (driven by desires, needs and appetites)

What distinction do humans make that animals don't?

Between things that are means to us and those which are also ends in themselves

What example is used to illustrate disinterested attitude?

A mother cradling her baby, looking down on it with love and delight

If the woman wanted to persuade someone to employ her as a baby-minder, would her attitude be interested or disinterested?

Interested

What is one sign of a disinterested attitude?

It does not regard its object as one among many possible substitutes

For the doting mother, could any other baby 'do just as well'?

No

The main idea: There are two different ways we can care about things:

• Interested = We want something because it helps us get what we want

  • Example: You want a hammer because you need to hang a picture

  • Any hammer that works would be fine - you don't care about THAT specific hammer

• Disinterested = We care about something for itself, not because it gets us something else

  • Example: A mother loving her baby

  • She doesn't love the baby because it helps her achieve some goal

  • She loves THAT specific baby for who they are

  • No other baby could replace it

The contrast in the passage:

• If the woman just wanted to look like a good baby-minder to get a job, ANY baby would work for that purpose (interested)

• But a real mother loves HER baby specifically - it's irreplaceable (disinterested)

How this relates to beauty: When we find something beautiful, we appreciate THAT thing for itself, not because it's useful to us. Just like the mother doesn't see her baby as a tool, we don't see a beautiful painting as a tool - we value it for what it is.

Is being disinterested the same as being uninterested?

No, disinterested means interested in a certain way (not motivated by self-interest)

What example is given of people acting disinterestedly?

People who generously extend their help to others in times of trouble

What motivates people who help their neighbors disinterestedly?

The interest in doing just this (helping their neighbors), not self-interest

According to Kant, when can interests be disinterested?

If they are determined by reason alone (not by desires)

What kind of interest did Kant say the moral motive is?

A disinterested interest that is an interest of reason (not an interest of mine, but an interest of reason in me)

What question do we ask when we stand back and act as an impartial judge?

Not what I want to do, but what I ought to do

What do we set aside when addressing moral questions?

All our interests (appealing to reason alone)

What is Kant's categorical imperative?

Act only on that maxim which we can will as a law for all rational beings

In what way is the moral motive also interested?

The interest of reason is the determining principle of my will (I am making up my mind to do something)

In the judgement of beauty, what do we suspend?

All desires, interests and goals

How do we attend to an object in the judgement of beauty?

Purely disinterested, abstracting from practical considerations

What platitude seems threatened by the idea of disinterest?

The connection between beauty and pleasure

What do we have when an experience pleases us?

A desire to repeat it (which is an interest of ours)

What four examples of different kinds of pleasure are given?

Pleasure from a drug, pleasure in a glass of wine, pleasure that your son passed his exam, and pleasure in a painting or work of music

What kind of pleasure is it when your son wins the mathematics prize?

An interested pleasure (arising from satisfaction of parental interest in your son's success)

What two interests might draw someone to read specific poems?

Interest in military strategy (drawing to the Iliad) and interest in gardens (drawing to Paradise Lost)

If you feel pleased at having read a poem to pass an exam, what kind of pleasure is this?

An interested pleasure (stemming from your interest in having read the poem)

What three types of pleasure does our language distinguish?

Pleasure from, pleasure in, and pleasure that

According to Malcolm Budd, what is disinterested pleasure never?

Pleasure in a fact

What two examples are given of pleasure that is not like pleasure in beauty?

Pleasure of a warm bath and pleasure from a snort of cocaine

What technical term describes the specific focus of disinterested pleasure?

Intentionality

Does pleasure in a hot bath depend on thought?

No

Can pleasure in a hot bath be mistaken?

No, it can never be mistaken

What example shows how intentional pleasure can be mistaken?

Pleasure in the sight of your son winning the long-jump, which vanishes when you discover it was a look-alike

Who is mentioned as having mistaken pleasure at an embrace?

Lucretia

Who did Lucretia mistake for her husband?

The r*pist Tarquin

Different types of pleasure

• Simple sensory pleasure: Hot bath, cocaine - just feels good, no thinking required

• Interested pleasure: "I'm glad my son passed his test" - this satisfies your parental goals

• Disinterested pleasure (beauty): Pleasure IN the poem itself, for what it is - requires thought and attention

How are intentional pleasures integrated into our life?

They are fully integrated into the life of the mind

What two things can affect intentional pleasures?

They can be neutralized by argument and amplified by attention

Where do pleasures of eating and drinking arise from?

From pleasurable sensations

What role do intentional pleasures play in our abilities?

They play a vital part in the exercise of our cognitive and emotional powers

What does the pleasure in beauty feed upon?

The presented form of its object

How does pleasure in beauty renew itself?

Constantly from its source (the object)

What metaphor describes the relationship between pleasure in beauty and its object?

Like a gift offered to the object, which is in turn a gift offered to me

What type of pleasure is the pleasure in beauty similar to?

The pleasure that people experience in the company of their friends

What does the pleasure in beauty aim to do?

To understand its object and to value what it finds

What does pleasure in beauty tend towards?

A judgement of its own validity

What does every rational judgement appeal to?

The community of rational beings

According to Kant, what am I in the judgement of taste?

A suitor for agreement

How do we express judgements of taste according to Kant?

Not as a private opinion but as a binding verdict

What must rational beings do to agree with a judgement of taste?

Do what I am doing and put their own interests aside

According to Kant, is the judgement of taste actually binding on everyone?

No, but it is presented as such by the one who makes it

When you describe something as beautiful, what are you describing?

The thing itself, not your feelings towards it

What does describing something as beautiful imply about others?

That if they see things aright, they would agree with you

What is the character of describing something as beautiful?

It has the character of a judgement or verdict

According to Kant, are aesthetic judgements universal or subjective?

Both - they are universal but subjective

What are aesthetic judgements grounded in according to Kant?

The immediate experience of the one who makes them, rather than in any rational argument

How are aesthetic disagreements different from disagreements over food tastes?

Aesthetic disagreements are not comfortable (food disagreements are really just differences, not true disagreements)

Whose theory did the discussion move towards?

Kant's theory

Is Kant's theory platitudinous or controversial?

It is far from platitudinous and inherently controversial

Does the author say Kant's theory is definitely right?

No, the author doesn't say it's right

What two things does the experience of beauty include?

The experience itself and the judgement in which it issues