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We begin with the aesthetic theory of Anthony Ashley Cooper, the third Earl
of Shaftesbury.
1) Background
2) The notion of disinterestedness
3) The significance for contemporary aesthetics
The plan for today.
We begin with the aesthetic theory of Anthony Ashley Cooper, the third Earl
of Shaftesbury.
1) Background
2) The notion of disinterestedness
3) The significance for contemporary aesthetics ?
What is aesthetics?
As we have discussed in the last session, one of the most important question in
the 18th century aesthetics is the question about the nature of aesthetics. Why?
What is aesthetics?
As we have discussed in the last session, one of the most important question in
aesthetics
the 18th century
is the question
aesthetics
about
is thethe
question
nature about
of aesthetics.
the nature
Why?
of aesthetics. Why?
That is the only way for aesthetics to secure methodological and thematic autonomy
in relation to other philosophical disciplines.
What is aesthetics?
As we have discussed in the last session, one of the most important question in
aesthetics
the 18th century
is the question
aesthetics
about
is thethe
question
nature about
of aesthetics.
the nature
Why?
of aesthetics. Why?
That is the only way for aesthetics to secure methodological and thematic autonomy
in relation to other philosophical disciplines.
Differentia Specifica
The part of definition which signifies the unique property of the object of definition
In relation to other objects of the same class.
Example?
What is aesthetics?
Questions of more general nature have lately arisen, and these have tended
to have a skeptical cast: whether any use of ‘aesthetic’ may be explicated
without appeal to some other; whether agreement respecting any use is
sufficient to ground meaningful theoretical agreement or disagreement;
whether the term ultimately answers to any legitimate philosophical purpose
that justifies its inclusion in the lexicon.
What is aesthetics?
For Shaftesbury, the realm of aesthetic (the realm of beauty) was a part of
unified Reality that could only be accessed in the meditative state of
disinterested attention.
What is aesthetics?
For Shaftesbury, the realm of aesthetic (the realm of beauty) was a part of
unified Reality that could only be accessed in the meditative state of
disinterested attention.
Third Earl of Shaftesbury.
The third order of beauty belongs to that “which forms not only such as we
call mere Forms, but even the Forms which form” (C 2.408).
The most interesting part of his aesthetic theory is how to we get there.
But Shaftesbury does not rest with the claim that it is the mind that
grasps beauty: he adds the claim that it is by a “mental” or “internal” sense
that the mind does so.
“than straight an inward EYE distinguishes, and sees the Fair and Shapely,
the Amiable and Admirable, apart from the Deform’d, the Foul, the Odious,
or the Despicable. How is it possible therefore not to own “That these Distinctions
have their Foundation in Nature, the Discernment it-self is natural, and from Nature
alone?” (Cooper 1711/2001, 231)
Why sense?
Secondly, we respond to the content we get from our senses immediately and
unwillingly.
Disinterestedness.
The internal sense only ‘works’ under one condition - we have to dedicate
our disinterested attention to the perceived object in order to rise from the
appearing beauty to the beauty of the form.
Egoism about virtue is the view that to judge an action or trait virtuous
is to take pleasure in it because you believe it to serve some interest of yours.
Its central instance is the Hobbesian view—still very much on early
eighteenth-century minds—that to judge an action or trait virtuous is to take
pleasure in it because you believe it to promote your safety.
A person who is truly responding to beauty does not consider the desirable
consequences that may be associated with a beautiful object but rather
responds favorably to the object “for its own sake” (C 2.59), based purely
on “the Excellence of the Object” (C 2.273). Such a person’s response is not
sensitive to external circumstances but results merely from “seeing and
admiring” (C 2.43).
Taste.
De gustibus non dispuntandum est. => In matters of taste, there can be no disputes.
Taste.
De gustibus non dispuntandum est. => In matters of taste, there can be no disputes.
Taste is a unique human faculty with the help of which we are able to experience
beauty. This inherently pleasurable experience occurs immediately and simultaneously
with the contact with the harmonious object(s) if we approach them with
disinterested attention.
The dispute of how we ‘taste’ beauty is the hottest topic in 18th century aesthetics.
There are, in principle, three main theories:
a) Internal sense
b) Imagination
c) Association
(II)Taste.
De gustibus non dispuntandum est. => In matters of taste, there can be no disputes.
Taste is a unique human faculty with the help of which we are able to experience
beauty. This inherently pleasurable experience occurs immediately and simultaneously
with the contact with the harmonious object(s) if we approach them with
disinterested attention.
The dispute of how we ‘taste’ beauty is the hottest topic in 18th century aesthetics.
There are, in principle, three main theories:
a) Internal sense
b) Imagination
c) Association
Taste is the ability to judge an object,
or a way of presenting it, by means of a
liking or disliking devoid of all interest.
The object of such a liking is called
beautiful.
First moment of Kant’s Critique