ASAGE - American Society for Aesthetics Graduate E-Journal
Not a member yet
96 research outputs found
Sort by
Aesthetic and Other Theoretical Virtues in Science
No full textHere I first provide an introduction to a neglected topic in contemporary aesthetics: intellectual beauty. Then I review James McAllister?s critique of autonomism and reductionism regarding the relation between empirical and aesthetic criteria in scientific theory evaluation. Finally, I critique McAllister?s ?aesthetic induction,? and defend an alternative model that emphasizes the holistic coherence of aesthetic and other theoretical virtues in scientific theorizing
Varieties of Response-Dependence: A Critique of Zangwill
No full textThe dispositional nature of aesthetic properties is taken by some to be a problem for aesthetic property realism. Nick Zangwill argues that because aesthetic properties supervene on sensory properties such as color, they must be secondary qualities, and his response-dependence account of secondary qualities leads him to aesthetic nonrealism about sensory properties and then aesthetic properties. I find that Zangwill's treatment of sensory property dispositions falls prey to a confusion of the dispositions and their manifestations, and his argument moves too quickly from conceptual to ontological response-dependence. The possibility of a realist dispositional account of sensory and aesthetic properties remains open
Still Two Problematic Theses in Carroll's Account of Horror: A Response to "Monsters and the Moving Image"
No full text Noël Carroll?s seminal account of horror involves two original suggestions that distinguish his theory from previous views of the genre. One is that audiences are supposed to parallel the emotional responses that certain characters have when they confront horror monsters. The other is that horror monsters are supposed to disgust audiences, because they are impure. Recently, I argued that each thesis is falsified by counterexamples in a variety of well-recognized horror fictions. In response, Carroll claims these criticisms either distort or underestimate the resourcefulness of his account. In this paper, I contend that Carroll?s reply is inadequate, and that the two theses remain problematic, for much the same reasons I originally suggested.
Must Aesthetic Definitions of Art be Disjunctive?
No full textAesthetic definitions of art face difficulties in dealing with art that is nonaesthetic. This has led some to suggest that if aesthetic theories of art are to apply to all art, then they must be disjunctive. In such a case, something would be art if and only if it either (i) satisfied certain aesthetic criteria, or (ii) satisfied other, nonaesthetic, criteria. Nick Zangwill offers the Aesthetic Creation Theory. He considers ways that his theory could account for nonaesthetic art, and ultimately adopts a disjunctive theory that makes use of the notion of second-order art?art that gains art status by referring to first-order art that satisfies the Aesthetic Creation Theory?s conditions. I will examine Zangwill?s theory and his response to the problem of nonaesthetic art with the aim of showing that the idea of second-order art may be unnecessary. There is hope for a non-disjunctive account of the nature of art, I claim, if we reconsider the attempts to deal with nonaesthetic art that Zangwill himself rejects