Aesthetic experiences and their place in the mind Roelofs, Monique
ISBN: 0591677733
Summary:
The traditional view of aesthetic perception describes a mode of
disinterested contemplation, free from the cognitive and utilitarian
strictures conditioning ordinary awareness. Philosophers have
challenged this view on analytical, marxist, feminist, pragmatist,
and postmodernist grounds. Through interrelation and
contextualization requirements, aestheticians have attempted to
salvage the notion of an aesthetically appropriate mode of
appreciation (Budd, Levinson, Danto and Walton). But the nature of
this kind of appreciation depends on the nature of the small-scale
experiential states that form its substance, namely, the experiences
of aesthetic properties.
These experiences are peculiar. Conceptually complexer than pure
sensations, and phenomenally richer than sheer imaginings and
cognitions, aesthetic experiences exhibit significant parallels and
differences with other states of mind. They display a rocky
distribution over various sense modalities, a selective sensitivity
to contextual factors, and a striking interconnectedness among
themselves. Current analyses in terms of cognition, imagination,
metaphorical understanding, nonaesthetic sensation, and
counterfactual perception have trouble accommodating their coherence
and stability. With the assistence of theoretical work on
categorization, perception, and qualia (by Rosch, Rock, Fodor,
Lormand, Rey, and Flanagan), I propose to locate a more fine-grained
attitude at the basis of aesthetic experience, involving perceptually
driven conceptualizations, arising through processes of progressive
phenomenal differentiation. I substantiate this proposal by
considering a number of pertinent phenomena in aesthetics, namely the
role of imaginings in pictorial and musical perception; the function
of artistic categories, and the experience of seeing objects in
depictions.
This view, call it the conceptualizations view, allows us to identify
the distinctive artistic functioning of aesthetic experience--its
role as an intermediary between different domains of artistic
meaning--while respecting its variety and its relations with other
forms of mentation. Thus we can clarify its formative role within the
aesthetic sphere at large, and, most importantly, its connection with
value.
What is it to experience the sardonic quality of Mingus' music, the
nostalgia of a street-scene, the evanescence of a light installation,
or the flowingness of Virginia Woolf's prose? Aesthetic experiences
make artworks what they are for us--expressive, enlightening,
enjoyable. They ground aesthetic value. How can we best account for
them?
Notes:
Chair: Jerrold Levinson.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 58-11, Section:
A, page: 4300.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Maryland, College Park, 1997.
Electronic reproduction.Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest Information and
Learning Company,[200-]System requirements: Adobe Acrobat
Reader.Available via World Wide Web.
Click on a subject to see other books listed with the same
subject or to drill down into components of the subject -- such as
geographical locations, dates and so on.
We query many merchants so that you can instantly
compare prices and
availability. You can even check historic prices and subscribe
for notifications. For a manual check, clicking on a link will open a
new window with a search for this book on the merchant's site of your
choice.
