Art and Beauty

1. Describe the concept of the “aesthetic attitude” according to Bullough. Give two objections to the concept.

Bullough stated that there was two concepts that made up  "aesthetic attitude", contemplation and distance. He also talked about "physical distance" which was used to describe a specific psychological trait, "a factor in art and an aesthetic principle". He uses as an example of fog which is usually associated with anxiety and fear but if you view this fog from a far distance, then you take yourself out of the fog and therefore the emotions that you would feel.

The first argument against this concept is George Dickie's essay called "The Myth of the Aesthetic Attitude" He scrutinizes the idea of "distance" and "disintrestedness". He says that there is not a discernable difference between "being distanced"  in which we are induced "when the curtain goes up, when we walk to a painting or when we look at the sunset" and if we are distanced from this then we are effectively means "focussing our attention on" and needs no special term to describe it.

The second argument is that if the aesthetic attitude is about applying a distinct attitude towards an object, then this has no necessary affiliation with art forms. Kant takes this idea to show us his own comparisons, for example, delight is not just limited to art, sunsets, mountainsides or a rose, but those aesthetics would require a judgement in the form of taste, beauty etc. With Kant's argument, 'The aesthetic attitude' does not explain that there is a connection between art and the aesthetic.

2. What are Kant's three propositions about aesthetic taste?

German Philisopher Hans-Georg Gadamer aims to explain Kant's concept of the aesthetically beautiful. He claims firstly, the aesthetic taste is not based on someone's opinion but rather on the universal approval of what is aesthetically tasteful. Secondly, he states that this comes from your personal emotions felt from these pieces of art or the sunset etc and not on your understanding of art. The final thing that he claims is that the a genius is productive but not necessarily useful. The free creativity is not bound by any rules so is more effective in the creation of art.

3. How does Gadamer make a connection between art and the aesthetic?

By looking at the Mona Lisa is the example given. It can be seen from three different levels, the first being the piece as an object at it's basic level of a wooden frame with a canvas made from various materials but it is obvious that Leonardo did not mean for us to view it as such. Our judgement on it's aesthetic beauty is based on ourselves and we don't need any guidance in order to come to a conclusion. If we fail however in seeing the representation that this then the artist has failed, therefore the artist's creativity actually needs an audience to mean anything.

4. What are the main ideas behind the theory that art is a form of play?

Play is characterised as an activity without purpose. We as humans, do engage in play, as well as many different animals along with our basic physical instincts as well but we 'play' as well. Gadamer tells us that it's a mistake to think that play is a trivial matter.  Play is not an activity without purpose and does not need to be pointless. Game such as chess or soccer, have games and rules within the play itself but if we take chess, as an example, taking an opponents pieces from the game serves no purpose to the game but within the rules, it serves as an achievement. Play is also serious in the way that it demands a lot of skills which humans are more than capable of and Gadamer believes that humans are more than capable of art as well, as it is also a form of play where audiences and artists join. 

Kendall Walton's book on aesthetics, agrees that art is a kind of play. This idea is developed by him by imagining arts as different 'props' in a game of make-believe. The art value lies within the value of the game. As an example, he believe that it's a brilliant invention of letting the bad guys win or letting the good guys win as we are unable to do these activities in real life because of the consequences. 

'The play of art is not real life, but it has to do with real life and so many that enrich it'

5. In terms of how he distinguishes aesthetic judgement, what was Kant thinking about when he came up with the expression "purpose without purposefulness"?

Kant refers to aesthetic judgement as 'disinterestedly free'. He uses the example of a jacket and how you may like the way it looks and this is all a matter of taste, however another judgement may be made of how well it's design works. Does it keep out to cold or the rain? This is an example of how a purpose does not apply to art, as art is not design. He does agree that art work is intentionally created to engage an audience by conveying it's own symbolic hidden meanings but it is not design and does not have a purpose. This is the the thinking behind this expression, 'purposefulness without purpose'. This phrase can be used to support his arguments on sport that the essay discusses.