Aesthetics
Key Figures: Immanuel Kant, G.W.F. Hegel, Edmund Burke, David Hume, Francis Hutcheson, Frank Sibley, etc.
Aesthetic philosophy refers to the general discussion around what is true beauty and how we should deal with the varying cases of preference for one object as opposed to another. This is a field that is closely related to the Philosophy of Art, and thus deals closely with how we perceive and then subsequently make judgments about the value of certain artworks, or perhaps how we even make distinctions between ‘good art’ and ‘bad art’. A large portion of the discussion in aesthetics focuses on aesthetic experience and aesthetic critique. The debate around aesthetic experience centers on what goes on inside our mind, psychologically in a way, when we make certain judgements about the ‘beauty’ of poetry or a countryside landscape. Some hold that we immediately make subjective judgements based on mere sensory input and our our interests and desires, and others that there is a rational criteria that is internally used. On the other hand, aesthetic critique puts these questions aside and raises an inquiry into what makes an artwork good objectively, and how we should evaluate it (apart from inner psychological judgements). Does a specific class of objects assigned with aesthetic value have to fit a particular form? If not form, then it is a popular view that art must be meaningful in some way - but even that begs the question of 'to what extent?'. Or maybe a possible criteria is that art, music, etc. must invoke some sort of psychological response. Though, this latter answers brings us around the circle back to the first question, without answering much. The field of aesthetics does not wish to do away with artistic meaning and claim that 'nothing is beautiful nor has meaning' by being too objective and philosophical, it is not pessimistic, nor does it wish to erase that feeling that you get when you hear the detail in your favorite musical artist's songs or whatever sparks interest - instead, the general field of Aesthetics aims to bring to light what makes possibly every-day objects, scenes, or art so beautiful, and analyzes what exactly allows us to appreciate them.