beauty changes everything
From 1958 to 1982, two adept philosophers—Monroe Beardsley and George Dickie—debated each other through their books and articles about the nature of aesthetic experience. By seeing the different attempts at an understanding and their respective critiques, it helps us to work through our own notion of what it means to have an aesthetic experience. I … Continue reading Aesthetic Experience: A Debate
An aesthetic impact is powerful. From advertising influencing our decisions to political leaders instigating action, aesthetic motivations form a core compulsion of our lives, including for ethical or global issues. People often want to believe that they act only with good reason, since our emotions are frivolous. In "Taste, Foodways, and Everyday Life," Tim Waterman … Continue reading Positive and Negative Aesthetics
Prior to 2020, the word 'metaverse' was not commonly used, especially not in daily discourse. That changed during the Covid-19 pandemic as many things transitioned online temporarily, and some for good. Suddenly, the metaverse became a buzzword people see and hear everywhere. Companies started hiring metaverse officers, and some people began claiming expertise in something … Continue reading Why Aesthetics Should Drive the Metaverse
Described by many as larger than life, Lance Hosey pushed for higher levels of excellence and beauty by architects and designers. He passed away in 2021, but he left a legacy of advocating for the use of aesthetics in green (or sustainable) design. Within his context of design, he held to a core idea that … Continue reading The Beauty of Green Design
How aesthetics impacts our decision-making is often ignored or overlooked. Some researchers, for example, have claimed that our feelings (i.e., aesthetic responses) account for 85 percent of our decision-making for retail purchases. Another example from clothing helps to illustrate this point further. In Everyday Aesthetics, Yuriko Saito describes how natural fibers, such as wool and … Continue reading Ugliness and Climate Solutions
In his book, Aesthetics: A Very Short Introduction, Bence Nanay writes, "What all things aesthetic have in common is something very simple: the way you're exercising your attention" (p.22). To illustrate what he means, Nanay uses as an example the painting The Fall of Icarus by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Landscape with the Fall of … Continue reading Attention to Beauty
Theories of aesthetic taste have been developed in the fields of philosophy, psychology, and sociology. But market and consumer research has not spent as much time developing theories of aesthetics taste to put into their different practices. Wayne D. Hoyer and Nicola E. Stokburger-Sauer opened this discussion in their article, "The Role of Aesthetic Taste … Continue reading Consumer Taste
I have long-believed that aesthetics should be part of our everyday lives, and then philosophers started publishing books and articles about this idea I took for granted. However, I see that the literature in aesthetics did not always warrant such a conclusion, especially with an overwhelming focus on the arts. The "Everyday Aesthetics" movement in … Continue reading Quotidian Aesthetics: The Design Paradigm
THE EXPERIENCE OF BEAUTY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. By Mary Carruthers. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Pp. xii+233. Hard Cover $150.00, ISBN: 9780199590322. Most ideas from the Middle Ages are entangled in their views of theology and morality, at least that is how we often perceive it. We approach medieval ideas with the belief … Continue reading Review of The Experience of Beauty in the Middle Ages
Art is supposed to be experienced. Recently in Massachusetts, there has been a big push for why the arts matter. People blasted social media with photos holding signs explaining why the arts matter, which was truly awesome. I love art, and I highly commend them for their efforts. However, it is always surprising to me … Continue reading Why Do We Thrive on Self-Expression?