On a Hard Problem in Aesthetics

A. E. Radeev

Abstract


Aesthetics, like other branches of philosophy, has its fundamental problems. At different points in the history of aesthetics, such problems have been taste as a form of aesthetic judgment, the limits of art, the possibilities of aesthetic method, and others. Today we can distinguish at least three fundamental problems that are solved in aesthetics with varying degrees of success. The first is a set of problems of aesthetic experience, including the problem of its existence and the problem of its analysis. The second is the problem of art as a special object of aesthetic experience. The third has not yet been clearly defined, but today it is labeled as the problem of the everyday aesthetics, the aesthetics of the environment, or the aesthetics of atmosphere. Within a problem field there may be a problem that is the essence of the field but has not been solved yet. Within the set of problems of aesthetic experience there is a hard problem. It is based on the distinction between sensory and aesthetic experiences. The essence of this problem: what is the necessity of the existence of aesthetic experience on a par with sensory xperience? This problem seems to be unsolved. But if we do not solve this problem, we will have to admit that aesthetic experience is accidental, that there is no need for its existence, that it is reducible to other forms of experience, and that it has no characteristic of its own.


Keywords


aesthetic experience; hard problem of consiousness; slow science; philosophy of art; everyday aesthetics

References


Stengers I. Another Science is Possible, Polity Press, 2018.

Грякалов А.А. Эстетика встреч: эстезис — субъект-свидетель — утверждение // Terra Aestheticae. 2019, № 2 (4). С. 85–107. URL: http://terraaestheticae.ru/index.php/terraaestheticae/article/view/64/85 (access: 08.02.23)

Лосев А.Ф. История античной эстетики. Итоги тысячелетнего развития: в 2 кн. Кн. 1. М.: АСТ, 2000.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.31312/2310-1245-2023-58-56-66

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