Questions tagged [aesthetics]
Aesthetics is the study of the beautiful. It is one of the classical sub-disciplines of philosophy.
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What did Nietzsche mean by monsters and the abyss?
What do you think Nietzsche meant by "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you." (...
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Does postmodernism in art criticism collapse into relativism? What's its merit?
Postmodernism rejects the idea of a universal truth and in context of literary art criticism it shifts the focus from the writer or the author to the audience and from constant meaning to unstable one ...
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Is art a form of communication?
I recently got into a discussion where the other person claimed that art is a form of communication. Bearing in mind that the definition of art is disputed, did any philosophers argue that a work ...
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Is it ever possible to objectively state that a piece of music or film, or a genre, is better, or more artistically valid than another?
I first found Adorno and Horkheimer's critique of pop culture in the Culture Industry very compelling. Their idea that pop culture was factory produced and induced mindless consumerism as opposed to ...
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Is mathematics an art?
I'm thinking of art in the traditional sense as visual, musical or literary.
Mathematics certainly requires technique, and hence one can say craftmanship. But whereas the production of an art (at ...
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Is it possible to use Wittgenstein's family resemblance approach to universals to separate high art from commercial art?
In a previous post, I asked whether it is possible to objectively compare the quality and validity of different pieces and forms of art. In the responses I got the overall response is that there is no ...
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Does a moral act have to be necessarily beautiful?
Kant argues in his Third Critique (sec. 59) that moral uprightness and decency brings us pleasure as in a reflective, judgment of taste:
Now I say that the beautiful is the symbol of the morally ...
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How can one measure the quality of art?
In art (music, painting, etc.), is it meaningful to say that this piece is better than this one? I can understand somebody saying "I have more feelings, I'm more touched when I listen to this song ...
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Is physical attractiveness subjective? [closed]
At one level, it seems obviously the case that this is true. Yet clearly, there are people who exist that most would call attractive and others who most would call not. So, how is the question of ...
user62907
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Has there been any philosophical investigation into the role of aesthetics in mathematics?
There are many mathematicians who talk about the particular beauty of a subject. They may say a particular result is pretty. It may be beautiful.
It seems to me play a fundamental role in the ...
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Can computers be programmed to be 'creative'?
When a artist strokes their brush on a canvas and paints a beautiful work of art they may be referred as creative person. Or perhaps a musician or a writer. Does this creativeness come from the soul ...
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Does doing comparative philosophy presuposse adopting cultural-relativism?
Assuming that there are several distinct philosophical traditions - say - Western, Chinese and Indian and that philosophers can actually compare the manner certain philosophical problems were handled ...
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What are some arguments for the golden ratio making things more aesthetically pleasing?
What are some (not necessarily good) arguments that painters, architects, designers, musicians, etc. basing their work on the golden ratio φ makes their work more aesthetically pleasing?
I think these ...
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Are there objective criteria for aesthetic judgment?
Are there objective criteria for judging whether or not artworks are good art? Should we at times appeal to moral values in assessing the quality of artwork? What major approaches are there for the ...
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Kant and the ornament
I am getting somewhat confused about Kant's stance about ornaments. In the Critique of Judgement, Kant seems to make a strict distinction between parergon (the add-ons to say cruely) and ergon (the ...
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Will fundamental physics eventually become an aesthetic construction and proceed on aesthetic grounds?
Consider the following argument:
Proposition 1: The language of physics (as an empirical science) is mathematics.
I think this should be uncontroversial to the majority of working physicists.
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Are "aesthetic experiences" limited to art and music?
I was wondering whether philosophers consider aesthetic experiences to be something that permeate through a range of day to day experiences or if they're limited to art.
For example, can learning/...
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Difference between Science and Arts
"Science provides an understanding of a universal experience. Arts provide a universal understanding of a personal experience." Mae Jemison
Here is what Mae Jemison's says about her claim (source):
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Can mathematics be sublime?
The Sublime is sometime used as a synonym for subtle or sophisticated but with aesthetic overtones. In the original setting for this aesthetic notion it was a combination of Beauty & Greatness, ...
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Good Introductions to Kants Critique of Judgment
Can somebody recommend any? I have come across Wicks & Hughes so far, but I am finding it very difficult. I am also finding it incredibly difficult reading through the Critique itself. Any advice ...
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How might aesthetics be radically Other?
I've read a handful of book by or about Levinas, but some time ago and without notes. IIRC his central ethical theme is that other people are not an aspect of the self, that our obligation to them ...
user6917
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Architectural Philosophy
I am an architecture student who wants to be more than just friends with philosophy.
I am looking for something that narrates forms and spaces very well. It could be metaphoric to human behavior like ...
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Are aesthetic judgments rational?
I was reading this article: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aesthetic-judgment/#1.4
I was thinking that aesthetic judgments are responses that derive from our emotions. So they can be considered ...
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Is beauty a basic human need?
Did any philosopher argue that beauty is a basic human need?
By "beauty" (pulchritudo) I mean, as St. Thomas Aquinas defines it ([II-II q. 145 a. 2][4] co.), that which
results from the ...
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Measuring a Person's Aesthetic Sense
Can we measure or evaluate the aesthetic sense of a person? Like, can we statistically say that Person A has a superior aesthetic sense to Person B? Since beauty is relative, can we truly 'grade' ...
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Difference between Science and Arts according to Mae Jemison
Here is a quotation from Mae Jemison:
"Science provides an understanding of a universal experience. Arts provide a universal understanding of a personal experience."
Could you help me making sense ...
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Where does Nietzsche state that destruction is necessary to creation?
I've read somewhere that Nietzsche argues that destruction is always necessary in order to create, I think that the reference was to "thus spoke Zarathustra" but I couldn't find it myself.
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Is Realism an Aristotelian middle term?
Plato declared art as the art of imitation; in drama, Aristotle distinguishes tragedy and satire as high and low forms respectively it presents the problem of life, in tragedy, better or higher, that ...
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