Beauty and Secondary Epistemic Seeing

Activity: Talks or PresentationsOther Invited Talks or Presentations

Description

The Acquaintance Principle remains controversial in aesthetics but a weaker principle in itsvicinity has not been contested. The principle in question rules out a certain kind of secondaryepistemic seeing, namely: seeing that something is beautiful by seeing that someone (asensitive observer) responds to it with pleasure. But should this possibility be ruled out? Thepresent paper provides an argument, based on a theory of aesthetic pleasure, for why itshould be. As the argument is developed, more insight is gained into the nature of bothprimary and secondary epistemic seeing.
Period1 Apr 2024
Held atPeking University, China