Aesthetic Attitude (History)

Aesthetic attitude theories emphasize the importance of the aesthetic attitude in understanding art and its relationship with other values. Some argue that the nature of art is explained by the aesthetic attitude, but this view is generally accepted as insufficient for setting the boundaries of art. Most aesthetic attitude theories offer subtler and more complex accounts of the interaction among the aesthetic attitude, art, and beauty.

The origins of aesthetic attitude theory can be traced back to the eighteenth-century notion of disinterest, which was discussed by a group of British thinkers writing about beauty and taste. Lord Shaftesbury, Immanuel Kant, and Arthur Schopenhauer were among the early to discuss the notion in depth. These philosophers wrote about aesthetics and art, often referred to as theories of taste, because they each essentially involve the notion of a special kind of faculty, the faculty of taste, that we use to determine an object's aesthetic value.

The relationship between the aesthetic attitude and eighteenth-century British theories of taste is a subject of debate. Some philosophers, like Jerome Stolnitz, argue that there is a deep continuity between these two groups of theories, while others, like George Dickie, argue that there is an important divide between the two groups of theories. However, it is hard to deny any connection, as these British philosophers influenced Kant and inspired everyone who has written about the aesthetic attitude since.

Shaftesbury, Francis Hutcheson, and David Hume were prominent British philosophers who wrote about aesthetics and art. Their theories are often referred to as theories of taste because they each essentially involve the notion of a special kind of faculty, the faculty of taste, that we use to determine an object's aesthetic value. Later British theorists, such as Edmund Burke, argued against such a faculty, worrying that it failed to explain anything.

Shaftesbury argues that aesthetic experience is disinterested, but has a Platonic picture on which beauty is essentially the same as goodness and truth. Aesthetic appreciation is not devoid of any connection whatsoever to other values (ethical and epistemological), despite lacking connection to our personal ends and interests. For him, appreciating something aesthetically involves the same essential feeling as appreciating something morally.

Hutcheson and Hume disagree with Shaftesbury's unified view, rejecting the equivalence of beauty, goodness, and truth and seeing more of a gap between aesthetic value and other values. They all share the central idea of disinterested pleasure as independent from personal interest, which forms the starting point for aesthetic attitude theories.

Kant's aesthetic attitude theory focuses on our judgments of taste, also known as judgments of taste or judgments of the beautiful. These judgments involve four important aspects: disinterestedness, universality, purposiveness without purpose, and necessity. Disinterest is the quality of our judgments of taste, which are subjective and come from our feelings rather than objective facts.

Kant argues that there are three kinds of satisfaction: agreeable, beautiful, and good. The agreeable gratifies some desire, while the beautiful is disinterested pleasure. The agreeable pleasure serves our purpose, and our finding it depends on our psychology. We cannot change what we desire simply by willing to.

The good is esteemed and approved, with objective value set on it. We find being generous good when we set objective value on generosity or generous actions. Pleasure in the good is also interested, as reason determines what we find good. This is still a personal interest because each person has an interest in bringing about the good.

The beautiful is disinterested pleasure, and the art collector who enjoys her artwork for its monetary value enjoys that work in an interested way, and thus has not taken the aesthetic attitude toward it. Consequently, any positive judgment she produces will not be a judgment of taste. Kant takes this idea further, arguing that anyone who really approaches something with a contemplative, disinterested attitude and finds it beautiful (that is, takes the aesthetic attitude toward it) will not even be interested in whether the object in fact exists. To want the object to exist is to have an interest wrapped up in it, or in other words, to have something be at stake in its existence.

There are three other conditions of judgments of taste: they must be universal, which means they feel as though they apply to everyone. Calling something beautiful means feeling like everyone should recognize it as beautiful (even if we realize that it is not a fact about the object that it is beautiful). The objects of these judgments also exhibit what Kant calls purposiveness without purpose, or alternatively, finality without an end. This may sound complex but just means that while there may be no actual purpose of the object (or at least not one of which we are aware), we are struck by how it seems to be made for a purpose.

Lastly, these judgments are necessary in the sense that it feels like we judge according to some unspoken universal rule, from which our judgment necessarily follows. Disinterest, a notion first brought to the fore by the eighteenth-century British philosophers, continues to be a central notion in Kant's aesthetics. However, Kant does not seem to have a true aesthetic attitude theory in the sense defined above. It is a matter of interpretation, but it looks as though he does not think that any object we approach with this frame of mind thereby becomes an aesthetic object. Many argue that it is not until Schopenhauer, for whom disinterest is even more important, that we see an actual aesthetic attitude theory.

Schopenhauer's aesthetic attitude theory, which he introduced in his book "The World as Will and Representation," is a philosophical approach that focuses on the world as a representation rather than a Will. Schopenhauer's philosophy is characterized by a focus on the Will, which is a unceasing desire that forms the basis of human suffering. He believes that experiencing the world as Will leads to boredom and deeper suffering.

Schopenhauer's aesthetic attitude theory suggests that we should not look at things in the ordinary way, which involves both perceptual meaning and non-perceptual one. Instead, we should pay attention to the surface features of an object and its relationships to other things. This relational viewing is absent in the aesthetic attitude, where we only pay attention to things themselves.

Schopenhauer also emphasizes that we should not have abstract thought or reasoning, but instead focus on the perception alone. This approach fills our mind with calm contemplation, allowing us to stop thinking about the will and no longer sense a difference between ourselves and the object perceived. This means that we can see through the object itself to its Idea, which are eternal and unchangeable.

Aesthetic contemplation allows us to know the Ideas, which are eternal and unchangeable. Anything can become the object of the aesthetic attitude, as everything represents Ideas and manifests the will in some way. This means that Schopenhauer's aesthetic attitude theory has profound practical import, as it can release us from the cycle of constant suffering and help us deal with difficult situations.

However, it is important to note that taking the aesthetic attitude is not easy and comes naturally to everyone. While some artistic geniuses can actively adopt the aesthetic attitude, others may remain in that state for longer than the typical fleeting moment. Schopenhauer answers that the aesthetic attitude is a mix of these, with some people being more adept at engaging it actively while others are a transient and happenstance state.

In Schopenhauer's view, attention and perception take center stage, and aesthetic contemplation involves intense focus where the perception completely fills the mind. The aesthetic attitude plays a crucial role in the larger theory, helping us know Ideas and by doing so, releases us from endless suffering.

While many aspects of Schopenhauer's view have resonated with subsequent philosophers of aesthetics, to fully adopt his view, one must adopt much of the rest of his philosophy, which includes his theory of Ideas, representation, and the Will. Later aesthetic attitude theorists often preserve some key aspects of the view, but they are generally unwilling to do so.