PHIL 017. Aesthetics and Experience

What kind of experience is aesthetic experience? Is it just a genus of our ordinary perceptual and emotional experience, or is there something else that sets it apart? When we make aesthetic judgments, what sets the standard by which those judgments are correct or incorrect? Can there be genuine disagreement about matters of taste? Does the value of a work of art depend on our responses to it? Are facts about beauty part of the set of facts that are studied by empirical science, or are these facts (if they exist) some other kind of thing?

 

In this class we will consider the meaning of art and how our experiences of art relate us to this form of meaning. We’ll also inquire into what it is that artists are doing when they make art and the role art plays in everyday life. There will be an emphasis on how art and aesthetics relate to the human mind: what happens in our minds when we have aesthetic experiences, the pleasurable and painful character of engaging with the world aesthetically, and whether to regard our aesthetic judgments as subjective or objective. 

 Back to Top | Print-Friendly Page (opens a new window)