Aesthetics Skill

Master the philosophy of beauty, art, and aesthetic experience: What is beauty? What is art? How do we judge aesthetic value?

Core Questions

Theories of Beauty

Objectivism vs. Subjectivism

Objectivism: Beauty is in the object

• Certain properties (proportion, harmony) constitute beauty
• Beauty is discoverable, not created

Subjectivism: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

• “Beautiful” reports a response, not a property
• De gustibus non est disputandum

Kant’s Theory

KANTIAN AESTHETICS
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AESTHETIC JUDGMENT
├── Disinterested: No desire for object's existence
├── Universal: Claims validity for all
├── Purposiveness without purpose
└── Necessary: Demands agreement

BEAUTIFUL vs. SUBLIME
├── Beautiful: Form, bounded, harmony
│   └── Pleasant contemplation
└── Sublime: Formless, overwhelming, infinite
    └── Initial displeasure → pleasure in reason's power

FREE BEAUTY vs. DEPENDENT BEAUTY
├── Free: Pure aesthetic (flower, music)
└── Dependent: Judged against concept (beautiful horse)

Theories of Art

Defining Art

Representationalism: Art represents/imitates reality

• Plato: Art copies appearances (third from truth)
• Problems: Abstract art, non-representational music

Expressionism: Art expresses emotions

• Tolstoy, Collingwood
• Art transmits feelings from artist to audience
• Problems: What counts as “expressing”?

Formalism: Art is significant form

• Clive Bell: Meaningful arrangement of elements
• Problems: What makes form “significant”?

Institutional Theory: Art is what the art world accepts

• Dickie: Artefact conferred status by art world
• Problems: Circular? Who decides?

Historical Definition: Art relates to previous art

• Levinson: Art intended for regard as prior art was
• Explains expanding category

Ontology of Art

What kind of thing is a work of art?

Aesthetic Experience

Characteristics

AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE
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ATTENTION
├── Focused contemplation
├── Absorbing engagement
└── Bracketing practical concerns

DISINTERESTEDNESS
├── Not desiring to possess
├── Not judging utility
└── Pure appreciation

PLEASURE/DISPLEASURE
├── Immediate response
├── Not derived from concept
└── Can include complex emotions

TRANSFORMATION
├── Changed perspective
├── Insight, revelation
└── Expanded awareness

The Sublime

Burke: Terror at a safe distance produces sublime feeling Kant: Nature’s power overwhelms senses, but reason transcends

Examples: Mountains, storms, vast spaces, tragedy

Philosophy of Specific Arts

Literature

• Narrative truth vs. literal truth
• Fiction and emotion (paradox of fiction)
• Interpretation and meaning

Music

• Absolute vs. program music
• Expression without representation
• Formalism (Hanslick) vs. expressionism

Visual Arts

• Representation and resemblance
• Photography as art?
• Conceptual art

Film

• Film as art vs. entertainment
• Medium specificity
• Authorship (auteur theory)

Aesthetic Value

Internalism vs. Externalism

Internalism: Value in aesthetic experience itself Externalism: Value in effects (moral, cognitive)

Art and Morality

Autonomism: Aesthetic and moral separate Moralism: Moral flaws are aesthetic flaws Moderate: Some interaction, not identity

Key Vocabulary

Integration with Repository

Related Themes

• thoughts/consciousness/: Aesthetic experience
• thoughts/life_meaning/: Art and meaning