The Aesthetic Attitude

When we see an object or event as an aesthetic object, as opposed to the way in which the scientist might view it, we see it from the aesthetic attitude - a state of perceiving entered into voluntarily and consciously by an agent that serves to both make the agent receptive to having an aesthetic experience and transforms the object of the agent's attentions from an ordinary object into an aesthetic object. David Fenner sets out to investigate the formulation of necessary and sufficient conditions for the adoption of the aesthetic attitude. While the aesthetic attitude has figured prominently in aesthetics from the time of the Enlightenment, it has been challenged only in the twentieth century. This book includes a critical review of the most important aesthetic attitude theories, of the criticisms that have been leveled against them, and of criticisms of the aesthetic attitude itself. Dr. Fenner argues that one version of the aesthetic attitude survives the criticism: that which is based on investment of attention and the promise of reward in the form of aesthetic pleasure. With its extremely accessible explanations, this book can be used in undergraduate and graduate courses in aesthetics, philosophy of art, art criticism, and art history.