Aesthetic Investigations (E-Journal, Dutch Association of Aesthetics)
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Restoring Culture to Manage the Subjective
Get PDFWhen we want a cultural object restored, the major reason for this is the value that we attribute to the thing. Paradoxically, restoration is an objective process, but its aim is the preservation of the thing\u27s subjective appreciation. What does this paradox consist in
Casting Allusions
Get PDFThe modest philosophical literature on allusion focuses on descriptive issues concerning literary examples, and thus tends to neglect both allusions in other media and normative concerns about allusions in general. In this paper I will help fill both gaps through an analysis of three different cases of what I call casting allusions, which depend on the audience’s recognition that a certain cast member was also in the cast of a different work. These cases vary greatly in aesthetic merit, and this is best explained via two dimensions of allusive value: richness (given the medium) and dynamic engagement. All else being equal, an allusion will be more aesthetically pleasing when it relies on a wider variety of medium-relevant channels or prompts less passive, more evolving audience response. Such an account finds further support in elaborate cinematic examples, such as the tapestry of allusions to Bruce Lee in the Kill Bill films
What Ever Happened to Anti-Essentialism?
Get PDFHow should one explain the relative disappearance of a major preoccupation of English-speaking Analytical Philosophy in the late 1950s/early 1960s: an anti-essentialist response to the question, ‘What is art?’, typified in papers by Kennick and Weitz? Minimally, anti-essentialism denies the widely-held assumption that something must be in common between all the instances where (in our case) the term “[fine] art” or the concept art is rightly ascribed, in virtue of which all are called ‘art’; a stronger version urges that, in fact, there is no essence to (our example) art
Façadism, Building Renovation and the Boundaries of Authenticity
Get PDFThe paper presents the history and trends of façadism, with examples from around the world, including a case where the State intervened for the suspension of façadism plans after alarmed academics referred to the Supreme Administrative Court. The different practices and scopes of façadism are presented, along with the views of its supporters and adversaries. Issues of authenticity arising from façadism interventions are discussed. Answers on whether building renovation through façadism consists of cultural preservation practice and preservation of the authenticity of a place, are sought in internationally accepted cultural heritage policy documents. These may provide solutions that could assist countries and institutions to make the right decisions regarding the conservation of architectural heritage, and confront extreme façadism practices through planning programs, legislative measures and education
Reading for Opacity and the Cognitive Value of Literary Fiction
Get PDFThis article addresses the question of the cognitive value of literary fiction starting from Peter Lamarque’s opacity thesis. My intention is to articulate the cognitive value of literary fiction in accordance with the opacity thesis avoiding the pitfall of formalism to which the opacity thesis risks to be reduced. In a first part, I examine Lamarque’s opacity thesis and discuss the problems of the distinction between opacity and transparency in case of literary fiction. In a second part, I thematize the reader’s interest in reading literary fiction and I analyze it in terms of an interest at a distance. This examination enables me to articulate the cognitive value of literary fiction as intrinsic to the reader’s experience of literary fiction. The main argument for this approach is based upon an observation that I borrow from Roman Ingarden’s reflections on the literary artwork, according to which the reader’s focus on the literary fictional narrative as a whole distinguishes the reading experience of literary fiction. I argue that this focus on the narrative as a whole leads beyond a propositional understanding of the experience of literary fiction and helps us to better understand the reader’s interest in reading literary fiction
The Truth of the Story and its Variations
Get PDFHusserl’s investigations on appearances and variations in the constitution of reality has led to the further examinations in what Arendt calls a ‘story’. Arendt argues that we produce our lives as a ‘story’. At the same time, she argues that nobody can be the author of one’s own life story. This intriguing claim implies that autobiography is an impossible task for an individual and that only others are capable of telling one’s own story. The main reason for this claim is that narration is only possible when the narrator has sufficient distance to the narrated life, and one cannot have a sufficient distance from one’s self. In this article, I will argue the following: if distance is a precondition of seeing and narrating, then variations of appearances and the reality that they constitute through different perspectives become a necessary part of seeing and narrating. This argument will emphasize the importance of the plurality of perspectives. Thus it will lead to the further question of whether it makes sense to make a truth claim in any of these perspectives or whether the variations force us to think every truth claim in relation to fiction
David Wojnarowicz and the Surge of Nuances: Modifying Aesthetic Judgment with the Influx of Knowledge
Get PDFWhen looking at two paintings, ostensibly by Rembrandt, is there an aesthetic difference in how these paintings are perceived if we know that one of the two paintings is a forgery? Most certainly, declared Nelson Goodman (1976). Knowledge of the difference would modify the aesthetic experience. When looking at Michelangelo’s Christ on the Cross, the result is arguably similar. What we see depends on what we know about Christ’s story. The same might also be said more generally about tragic narratives and their accompanying indicia. Awareness impacts viewers acutely. This is especially evident in curated Holocaust memorials, where the ghastly artifacts, and the unfathomable story lines, are intrinsic to their aesthetic force. This insight however is by no means limited to curated monuments. Learning that an artist, David Wojnarowicz for example, was a victim of inconceivable torment is no less critical to how their artworks are perceived. Our argument, in its totality, is that being informed is preferable to unknowing, and that knowing, however manifested, has the capacity of modifying visual perception
The aesthetics of garden conservation
Get PDFThe aim of the article is to discuss two theories of garden conservation. The difference between them lies in how they conceive of gardens and consequently what values they find worthy of protection. The ‘idealistic’ theory treats gardens as cultural objects similar to other works and demands that the form originally designed should be restored. The ‘materialistic’ theory claims that gardens can be only conserved because of their processual qualities. The goal of conservation is then not to set back the garden process or stop it, but to keep it on and direct it. The author’s contention is that the latter theory is better because it corresponds with what gardens are, namely natural environments arranged by humans. This definition of a garden is discussed in the first part of the article
The Question of Literary Realism: Adorno and the Form of the Novel
Get PDFThe aim of this paper is to investigate the notion of literary realism both in contemporary debate and in aesthetic reflection of nineteenth Century. What I intend to show, in fact, is the possibility to exploit some conceptual tools developed during the last century in the context of German literary aesthetics in order to give an answer to a set of problems deeply bounded to the contemporary discussion. Therefore, I intend to present Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno’s notion of “literary realism” as a possible solution to some problematic refrains in the philosophical investigation of literature. To this aim, I’ll divide my argument in three steps: first of all, I’ll sketch out the basic lines of the historical debate about realism in novels; secondly, I’ll outline Adorno’s notion of realism; thirdly, I’ll try to show to what extent Adorno’s definition could provide an answer to recurring issues in current debates