Beauty, Naturally

Author(s):  
Dominic McIver Lopes

Like aesthetic hedonism, the network theory assumes aesthetic value realism. The chapter argues for aesthetic naturalism without appeal to aesthetic non-cognitivism or aesthetic nihilism. First, aesthetic normativity reduces to achievement normativity. Second, aesthetic value facts are grounded in non-aesthetic facts. Grounding, by contrast with supervenience, provides for metaphysical explanations of the very kind that we seek in order to understand and to manipulate aesthetic value in the world. Many philosophers fret about whether or not aesthetic value facts are subjective (response-constituted). A distinction between what grounds aesthetic value facts and what anchors aesthetic practices makes clear how aesthetic values are anthropocentric, but not response-constituted.

Author(s):  
Dominic McIver Lopes

The main argument for the network theory of aesthetic value is that it better explains the facts about aesthetic activity than aesthetic hedonism. According to the network theory, an aesthetic value figures in a fact that lends weight to the proposition that it would be an aesthetic achievement for an agent to act in the context of an aesthetic practice. Each aesthetic practice has its own aesthetic profile, in which determinate aesthetic values are distinctively realized, and each has core aesthetic norms centred on its distinctive aesthetic profile. An account is given of the valence of aesthetic values. The theory explains why aesthetic experts disperse into almost all demographic niches, why they jointly inhabit the whole aesthetic universe, why they specialize by aesthetic domain, why they specialize by type of activity, why they specialize by activity and domain interacts, and why their expertise is rooted in relatively stable psychological traits.


Author(s):  
Dominic McIver Lopes

While the main argument for the network theory of aesthetic value is that it better explains the facts about aesthetic activity than does aesthetic hedonism, the two theories share some common assumptions. Aesthetic evaluations are mental representations that attribute aesthetic values to items. Aesthetic acts are acts based on aesthetic evaluations. Aesthetic values figure in aesthetic reasons, which are practical reasons. That is, an aesthetic reason lends weight to the proposition that an agent should perform some act—an act of aesthetic appreciation, for example. Hence, one task for a theory of aesthetic value is to state what makes some values aesthetic. A second is to state what makes it the case that an aesthetic property figures in a reason that lends weight to what an agent should do. Aesthetic hedonism and the network theory offer only to explain the practical normativity of aesthetic value.


Author(s):  
Dominic McIver Lopes

Misgivings concerning the value of beauty are widespread. Outside the academy, beauty is often regarded as frivolous, and public support for aesthetic activities is often justified by appeal to their economic and cultural spillover effects, rather than their inherent value. Arts scholars who regard perceptions of beauty as contributing to oppressive social formations have come to emphasize non-aesthetic values in art. Meanwhile, philosophy has been stuck for some time with a consensus that aesthetic values are hedonic values—an item’s aesthetic value is its power to produce finally valuable experiences. The trouble is that aesthetic hedonism plays into misgivings about the value of beauty. A plan is laid out for working towards the network theory of aesthetic value as an alternative to aesthetic hedonism.


Author(s):  
Dominic McIver Lopes

The main argument for the network theory of aesthetic value is that it better explains the facts about aesthetic activity than does its rival, aesthetic hedonism. Aesthetic hedonism reduces aesthetic values to hedonic values, which naturally figure in practical reasons. That an item offers an agent pleasure is always reason for them to access the pleasure. Most philosophers add that aesthetic values are subject to a standard. On the best contemporary account, the standard is represented by an ideal aesthetic appreciator. An argument is given to explain why the standard represented by an ideal aesthetic appreciator is normative for all aesthetic agents. Finally, aesthetic hedonism befits a desire-based theory of value.


2021 ◽  
pp. 10-29
Author(s):  
Tom Cochrane

This chapter develops a foundational account of aesthetic value in general. It presents an analysis of aesthetic value as ‘objectified final value’. It is not only that we can aesthetically value the world, but also that we only really value the world in its own right by means of aesthetic value. This analysis is then underwritten with a key psychological claim: that aesthetic values are ‘distal versions’ of practical values. Moreover, the intensity of each aesthetic value rests on an ‘essential tension’ where a psychological reward is balanced against a challenge. It is then argued that this characterization demands a realist, object-focused (rather than experience-focused) model of aesthetic value. This permits the genuine sharing of aesthetic value.


Author(s):  
Dominic McIver Lopes

One question that leads us into aesthetics is: why does beauty matter? Or, what do aesthetic goods bring to my life, to make it a life that goes well? Or, how does beauty deserve the place we have evidently made for it in our lives? A theory of aesthetic value states what beauty is so as to equip us to answer this question. According to aesthetic hedonism, aesthetic values are properties of items that stand in constitutive relation to pleasure. Contemporary versions of aesthetic hedonism don’t explain what makes aesthetic values aesthetic, but they do explain what makes them normative, stating what makes it the case that aesthetic value facts lend weight to what an agent should do, for the fact that acting yields pleasure is always a reason to act. This book introduces and defends an alternative to aesthetic hedonism. According to the network theory, aesthetic value facts lend weight to its being an achievement for an agent to act. Since agents achieve by acting in coordination with one another, the theory takes seriously the sociality of aesthetic activity. The main argument for the network theory is that it better explains six facts about aesthetic activity than does aesthetic hedonism. The book also discusses the relationship between aesthetic value and pleasure, the point and distinctive character of aesthetic discourse, and the metaphysics of aesthetic value. Two final chapters use the network theory to shed light on how aesthetic value matters to us as individuals and as members of collectives.


Author(s):  
Tom Cochrane

In this book, Tom Cochrane defends Aestheticism—the claim that everything is aesthetically valuable and that a life lived in pursuit of aesthetic value can be a particularly good one. Furthermore, in distilling aesthetic qualities, artists have a special role to play in teaching us to recognize values; a critical component of virtue. Cochrane grounds his account upon an analysis of aesthetic value as ‘objectified final value’, which is underwritten by an original psychological claim that all aesthetic values are distal versions of practical values. This is followed by systematic accounts of beauty, sublimity, comedy, drama, and tragedy, as well as Appendix entries on the cute, the cool, the kitsch, the uncanny, the horrific, the erotic, and the furious.


Author(s):  
Н. Алтыкеева ◽  
Б. Ниясалиева

Аннотация. Макалада романдын мазмунунан орун алган пейзаждык сүрөттөөлөр талкууланат. Пейзаждык сүрөттөөлөр чыгарманын көркөмдүүлүгүн, эстетикалык баалуулугун арттыруу менен катар эле каармандардын образын тереңден ачып берүүдө, окуялардын өнүгүп-өсүшү жана алдыда боло турган окуялар тууралуу окурманга маалымат берүүдө кошумча каражат катары колдонулат. Жазуучу романда пейзаждык сүрөттөөлөрдү өтө кылдат колдонгону байкалат. Алсак, тоо адамдагы улуулук жана бийиктикти айгинелейт, толукшуган ай жан- дүйнөнүн бөксөрбөй толуп турушун көрсөтөт, ачык асмандын алай-дүлөй түшкөн көрүнүшкө айланышы - каармандын ички сезими, уйгу-туйгу ойлонуусу, жан дүйнөсүнүн бурганак болушун ачып көрсөтүүдө маанилүү болсо, чабалекейлердин тынымсыз учуп чабалакташы, жан алакетке түшүп чыйпылдашы – алдыда боло турган кырсыктуу окуя тууралуу кабар берсе, согуштун апааты жашыл шибердин, бак-дарактардын күлгө айланышы, чымчык-куштардын күздү күтпөй кайдадыр учуп кетип жатышы менен түшүндүрүлөт. Tүйүндүү сөздөр: пейзаж. роман, идея, легенда, эпилог, каарман, негизги окуялар. Аннотация. В статье дается пейзажное описание. Пейзажное описание используется в произведении как дополнительное средство эстетических ценностей и помогает раскрыть образы героев, и действия произведения. Писатель в романе тонко использует пейзажное описание. Например горы возвышенное и самое ценное в человеке, а полная луна – счастливое душевное состояние человека, а превращение безоблачного неба в бущующий вид – указывает, как неспокойно в душе главного героя, его беспокойные мысли, как бушует его внутренний мир, а ласточки неспокойно летающие, предвещают несчастье, птицы улетающие раньше времени, превращение зелёной травы, деревьев в пепел предвещают ужасы войны. Ключевые слова: пейзаж. роман, идея, легенда, эпилог, герой, главное событие Annotation. The article discusses the landscape description. The landscape description is used in the work as an additional tool for aesthetic values and helps to reveal the images of heroes, and in the development of the action of the work/ The writer in the novel subtly uses the landscape description. The mountains are the sublime and the most valuable in a person, and the full moon is a happy state of mind of a person, and the transformation of a cloudless sky into a raging view indicates how restless the soul of the protagonist is, his restless thoughts. How his inner world is raging, and the swallows are restlessly flying, foreshadow the misfortune, the birds flying away ahead of time, the transformation of green grass, trees in the forehead the horrors of war. This article describes the idea of the story "Do not kill" which is given instead of the epilogue in the novel "When the mountains fall" which was written by Ch.Aitmatov. It considers the role of a story that calls to live in peace and to end wars that are occurring in the world. Keywords: Landscapе, novel, idea, legend, epilogue, hero, main event.


Author(s):  
Dominic McIver Lopes

The main argument for the network theory of aesthetic value is that it better explains the facts about aesthetic activity than does its rival, aesthetic hedonism. Aesthetic activity is not limited to appreciation, and six case studies are presented of aesthetic agents whose expertise covers a range of aesthetic activities. From a survey of the case studies, we see that six facts need explaining. Aesthetic experts disperse into almost all demographic niches, they jointly inhabit the whole aesthetic universe, they specialize by aesthetic domain, they specialize by type of activity, they specialize by activity and domain interact, and their expertise is rooted in relatively stable psychological traits.


Author(s):  
Dominic McIver Lopes

A theory of aesthetic value should help us to make sense of how our aesthetic commitments matter to us as members of collectives. Aesthetic policies endogenous to aesthetic practices are directly justified by the network theory. The chapter looks at what aesthetic reasons we have to adopt exogenous aesthetic policies. Many argue that aesthetic practices deserve public support because aesthetic goods are public goods. A case is made for an aesthetic opportunity principle: larger social groups have reason to foster the aesthetic opportunities available to their members. The principle is applied to arts education and to communication technologies subserving aesthetic exchanges. The chapter ends with a discussion of how aesthetic opportunity interacts with—and can potentially counteract—oppressive social structures.


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