midterm

Question 1

Aesthetic Attitude

Answer 1

Stolnitz

• disinterested, sympathetic attention to and comtemplation of any object of awareness whatever for its own sake
• object is not seen in a fragmentary or passing manner, as it is in practical perception… its whole nature and character are dwelt upon
• isolates the object and the viewer

Question 2

Two kinds of Value of Experience via Aesthetic Attitude

Answer 2

X is instrumentally valuable = X helps us to get to something else that is valuable
X is intrinsically valuable = X itself is valuable

Question 3

Forgery

Answer 3

artefact created with the intention that others believe it is an X, when in fact isn’t an X. Copy or fake.

Question 4

Lessing’s response: Being forged seems irrelevant to a works aesthetic value.

Answer 4

Genuineness vs Forgery
-non-aesthetic standard of judgement
-all peripheral information to the creation of the art belongs to areas such as biography, history of art, sociology and psychology
Aesthetic Experience
-autonomous experience, does not account for fact which is not aesthetically perceivable
-considering genuine art superior is a piece of snobbery

Question 5

Originality

Answer 5

imaginative novelty or spontaneity which is a mark of great works of art

Question 6

Dutton on Forgery

Answer 6

• believes that forgery makes a difference in value of art
• every work of art involves performance (solving problems, overcoming obstacles, make do with materials)
• object must be distinguished from circumstances of its origin, but not divorced

Question 7

Why does forgery matter?

Answer 7

artistic achievement

Question 8

true judges

Answer 8

strong sense, delicate sentiment, practiced, perfected by comparison, cleared of all prejudice

Question 9

Why cant all true judges agree on a standard of taste?

Answer 9

-often defects prevent or weaken the influence of universal taste principles

Question 10

universal principles of taste

Answer 10

• if something has feature f, then it is pleasing to everyone
• influentiality

Question 11

Hume on Standards of Taste

Answer 11

there is no standards because every judge is different

Question 12

Isn’t beauty subjective? (Hume’s response)

Answer 12

uniformity amongst men is the judge of true beauty

Question 13

Ducasse on the standard of taste

Answer 13

• connoisseurship makes possible aesthetic pleasures
• persons who are not connoisseurs cannot experience
• makes impossible the aesthetic pleasures which only the less aesthetically sensitive can taste
• for ranking of beauties, the only principles such as relative intensity of the pleasure felt, its relative duration and relative freedom from admixture of pain

Question 14

why is forged work seen as less valuable?

Answer 14

• lacking originality

- lacks moral value

Question 15

Ducasse on Mass Fashion

Answer 15

why give up what you prefer for what’s in? A social phenomenon.

Question 16

Zangwill on Fashion

Answer 16

things appear fashionable… this notion enters into the content of our perceptual experiences. But… there is an element of projection: when something appears fashionable to us, it involves an illusion.

Question 17

What makes something fashionable? (Farrenikova and Prinz)

Answer 17

X is fashionable if, and only if:

1) At some time in the near future, X will no longer be fashionable (temporally bounded trends are essential)
2) It is worn by many people (“No following, no fashionability”)
3) It is endorsed by individuals regarded as experts
4) People wear it because its aesthetic value is endorsed by experts

Question 18

Parson’s Response: “How can we trust the ‘aesthetic experts’ when they keep changing their minds”?

Answer 18

Solution #1: Aesthetic value can change.

Solution #2: Fashion trends don’t always end.

Solution #3: Aesthetic judgements of fashion remain constant.

fashion choice = aesthetic judgement + sociological judgement

Question 19

Why think that aesthetic judgements of fashion remain constant?

Answer 19

aesthetic value of objects don’t change, just the judgements.

Question 20

Morality and Aesthetic Appreciation

Answer 20

A work of art is morally flawed when the work invites us to consider sympathetically (as true) some moral view that we believe is false.

Question 21

Is a work that is morally flawed also thereby aesthetically flawed? (Stolnitz and Hume)

Answer 21

Stolnitz: No, not relevant to aesthetics, disrupts aesthetic attitude.

Hume: Yes, immorality must be able to disfigure artefacts, make unable to relish.

Question 22

Hume’s Response: We resist imagining that moral falsehoods are true. Why?

Answer 22

We worry that imagining a moral falsehood will lead us to believe it.

• we worry that imagining a moral falsehood will mess up our moral orientation
• we simply find it immoral to even imagine a moral falsehood being true

Question 23

Is a work that is morally flawed also thereby aesthetically flawed? (Yes and No)

Answer 23

Yes: We cannot imaginatively accept the moral vision of a work. If that moral vision is flawed.

No: We should put aside our own moral beliefs, and imaginatively accept the works moral vision

Question 24

Fictionally true

Answer 24

true in the fictional world, true in the story

Question 25

Walton on Moral and Aesthetic Appreciation

Answer 25

-we do not give up on the Reality Principle as far as morals go… authors don’t have the same freedom to manipulate moral characteristics as they do other aspects

Question 26

Why can’t we imagine moral falsehoods are true?

Answer 26

-our inability to understand fully what it would be like for these relations to be different.