Aesthetic Communication

Can testimony provide reasons to believe some proposition about an artwork’s aesthetic character? Can testimony bring an agent into a position where they can issue an aesthetic judgement about that artwork? What is the epistemic value of aesthetic communication? These questions have received sustained philosophical attention. More fundamental questions about aesthetic communication have meanwhile been neglected. These latter questions concern the nature of aesthetic communication, the criteria that determine when aesthetic communication is successful, and the frequency of communicative success in aesthetic communication. The neglect of these questions is a serious oversight, not least because they bear directly on each of the other questions listed. This paper’s focus is the more fundamental set of questions. I argue for a restricted form of communicative pessimism. Discerning aesthetic communication about an artwork typically fails unless its recipient is both acquainted with that artwork and able to coordinate with the speaker on an aesthetic understanding of it. I arrive at this conclusion by challenging the standard conception of the nature of aesthetic communication that the literature presupposes, as well as an accompanying criterion of communicative success. I introduce an alternative view. In closing I relate my discussion to the former set of questions

Aesthetic experience · Graphic communication · Judgement · Neglect · Proposition · Aesthetic Perception and Analysis · Environmental Philosophy and Ethics · Ethics, Aesthetics, and Art

• Particularity, Art and Evaluation

  Frank Sibley, F N Sibley•Aristotelian Society Supplementary…•1974

  Incluir item

• Aesthetic testimony, understanding and virtue

  Open Access•Alice Hills, Alison Hills•Noûs•2022

  Incluir item

• Critical Communication

  Arnold Isenberg•The Philosophical Review•1949

  Incluir item

• Aesthetic Concepts

  Frank Sibley•The Philosophical Review•1959

  Incluir item

• Aesthetic and Nonaesthetic

  Frank Sibley•The Philosophical Review•1965

  Incluir item

• Aesthetic Testimony

  Open Access•Aaron Meskin•Philosophy and Phenomenological…•2004

  Incluir item

• Frauds, Posers And Sheep

  Open Access•Michael Ransom•Philosophy and Phenomenological…•2017

  Incluir item

• The Philosophy of Medium-Grade Art

  Aaron Ridley•The British Journal of Aesthetics•1996

  Incluir item

• Critical Reasons

  Mary Mothersill•The Philosophical Quarterly•1961

  Incluir item

• On the Aesthetic Ideal

  Nick Riggle•The British Journal of Aesthetics•2015

  Incluir item

• Aesthetic Testimony and Aesthetic Authenticity

  Open Access•Felix Bräuer•The British Journal of Aesthetics•2023

  Incluir item

• On an Apparent Truism in Aesthetics

  P Livingston•The British Journal of Aesthetics•2003

  Incluir item

• The Acquaintance Principle

  M Budd•The British Journal of Aesthetics•2003

  Incluir item

• Virtues of Art

  Open Access•Peter Goldie, Peter D Goldie•Philosophy Compass•2010

  Incluir item