Aesthetics Research Lab (ARL) is an ongoing, public research project now in its tenth year. Here you’ll find essays, book reviews, interviews, and guest contributions exploring how aesthetic thinking shapes judgment, culture and everyday practice.
This post offers a starting point for navigating the research. For shorter, more accessible reflections, you can also follow the ARL Substack, where new writing is delivered directly to your inbox.
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
The selections below offer a way into the archive. Together, they reflect ARL’s sustained engagement with aesthetics as an often-overlooked but essential force shaping coherence, judgment, and connection across disciplines.
History of Aesthetics
Explorations of aesthetic thought across philosophical traditions, tracing how ideas of beauty, perception, and judgment have shaped culture over time–and continue to inform the present.
Ancient: The Rising Stairs of Beauty
Medieval: Three Design Conditions of Thomas Aquinas
Modern: What is Aesthetic Taste?
Contemporary: The Look of Power: Exploring Political Aesthetics
Non-Western Aesthetic Traditions
Engagements with aesthetic frameworks beyond the Western canon, examining how different cultural traditions understand beauty, form, perception, and meaning.
Japanese
Elegance in Japanese art: Reflections on Cultural Changes
African
Beauty in African Philosophy
Origin of the Golden Ratio
Coming Soon: a translation of The Spirit of Chinese Aesthetics
Aesthetics in Contemporary Culture
Interpretations of how aesthetic judgment circulates in everyday life–from digital media and consumer culture to subcultures, branding, and emerging forms of expression.
TikTok Aesthetics
Curating Your Brand’s Aesthetic
Taste Maps for Brands
The Aesthetic Influences of Cosplay
Consumer Taste
Aesthetics in Practice
Reflections on how aesthetic thinking informs decision-making, design, leadership, and organizational life, where questions of form, value, and meaning have real consequences.
Aesthetics and New Product Design
Quality Improvement for Healthcare
Agriculture and Aesthetics
Concerning Organizational Aesthetics
Most Read
A selection of widely read pieces that offer accessible entry points into the lab’s research, reflecting recurring questions and shared interests across the archive.
Beauty: Objective or Subjective
Beauty and Morality
Seeking the Familiar with a Twist