Aesthetics

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Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.^[1] Aesthetics examines values about, and critical judgments of, artistic taste and preference.^[2] It thus studies how artists imagine, create, and perform works of art, as well as how people use, enjoy, and criticize art. Aesthetics considers why people consider certain things beautiful and not others, as well as how objects of beauty and art can affect our moods and our beliefs.^[3]

Aesthetics tries to find answers to what exactly is art and what makes good art. It considers what happens in our minds when we view visual art, listen to music, read poetry, enjoy delicious food, and engage in large artistic projects like creating and experiencing plays, fashion shows, films, and television programs. It can also focus on how humans regard various forms of beauty in the natural world. Its function is the "critical reflection on art, culture and nature".^[4][5]

Aesthetics, sometimes spelled esthetics,^[6] is the branch of philosophy that studies beauty, art, and taste. It examines which types of aesthetic phenomena there are, how people experience them, and how objects evoke them. This field also investigates the nature of aesthetic judgments, the meaning of artworks, and the problem of art criticism.^[7] Key questions in aesthetics include "What is art?", "Can aesthetic judgments be objective?", and "How is aesthetic value related to other values?".^[8] One characterization distinguishes between three main approaches to aesthetics: the study of aesthetic concepts and judgments, the study of aesthetic experiences and other mental responses, and the study of the nature and features of aesthetic objects.^[9] In a slightly different sense, the term aesthetics can also refer to particular theories of beauty or to beautiful appearances.^[10]

Aesthetics is closely related to the philosophy of art and the two terms are often used interchangeably since both involve the philosophical study of aesthetic phenomena. One difference is that the philosophy of art focuses on art, whereas the scope of aesthetics also includes other domains, such as beauty in nature and everyday life. This leads some theorists to argue that the philosophy of art is a subfield of aesthetics.^[11] However, the precise relation between the two fields is disputed and another characterization holds that the philosophy of art is the broader discipline. This view argues that aesthetics mainly addresses aesthetic properties, while the philosophy of art also investigates non-aesthetic features of artworks, belonging to fields such as ontology, epistemology, philosophy of language, and ethics.^[12]

Even though the philosophical study of aesthetic problems originated in antiquity, it was not until the 18th century that aesthetics emerged as a distinct branch of philosophy when philosophers engaged in systematic inquiry into its principles.^[13] The term "aesthetics" was coined by the German philosopher Alexander Baumgarten in 1735, initially defined as the study of sensibility or sensations of beautiful objects.^[14] The term comes from the ancient Greek words aisthetikos, meaning 'perceptible things', aisthesthai, meaning 'perceive, see', and aesthesis, meaning 'sensation, perception'.^[15] The earliest known use in the English language happened in a translation by W. Hooper in the 1770s.^[16]

The history of the philosophy of art as aesthetics covering the visual arts, the literary arts, the musical arts and other artists forms of expression can be dated back at least to Aristotle and the ancient Greeks. Aristotle writing of the literary arts in his Poetics stated that epic poetry, tragedy, comedy, dithyrambic poetry, painting, sculpture, music, and dance are all fundamentally acts of mimesis, each varying in imitation by medium, object, and manner.^[17][18] Aristotle applies the term mimesis both as a property of a work of art and also as the product of the artist's intention^[17] and contends that the audience's realisation of the mimesis is vital to understanding the work itself.^[17]

Aristotle states that mimesis is a natural instinct of humanity that separates humans from animals^[17][19] and that all human artistry "follows the pattern of nature".^[17] Because of this, Aristotle believed that each of the mimetic arts possesses what Stephen Halliwell calls "highly structured procedures for the achievement of their purposes."^[20] For example, music imitates with the media of rhythm and harmony, whereas dance imitates with rhythm alone, and poetry with language.

The forms also differ in their object of imitation. Comedy, for instance, is a dramatic imitation of men worse than average; whereas tragedy imitates men slightly better than average. Lastly, the forms differ in their manner of imitation – through narrative or character, through change or no change, and through drama or no drama.^[21]

The domain of the aesthetic encompasses a variety of properties, objects, experiences, and judgments associated with beauty and artistic expression. However, the exact boundaries of this domain are disputed—it is controversial whether there is a group of essential features shared by all aesthetic phenomena or whether they are more loosely related through family resemblances. Another central topic concerns the relation between different aesthetic concepts, for example, whether the concept "aesthetic object" is defined through the concept of "aesthetic experience".^[22]

Aesthetic properties of an object are features that shape its aesthetic appeal or factors that influence aesthetic evaluations. For instance, when an art critic describes an artwork as great, vivid, or amusing, they express aesthetic properties of this artwork. Aesthetic properties cover a wide range of features. Some focus on aesthetic value in general, like great and ugly, while others center on more specific forms of value, such as graceful and elegant. Aesthetic properties can also refer to perceptual qualities of objects like balanced and vivid, to representational aspects like realistic and distorted, or to emotional responses such as joyful and angry.^[23]

The precise distinction between aesthetic and non-aesthetic properties is disputed. According to one proposal, aesthetic properties require a specific aesthetic sensitivity in addition to the sensory perception of non-aesthetic properties, going beyond simple colors, shapes, and sounds. Aesthetic properties are associated with evaluations, but not all are intrinsically good or bad. For example, being a realistic representation may be aesthetically good in some artistic contexts and bad in others.^[24]

The school of realism argues that aesthetic properties are objective, mind-independent features of reality. A related proposal asserts that they are emergent properties dependent on non-aesthetic properties. According to this view, the beauty of a painting may emerge from the right combination of colors and shapes. A different position holds that aesthetic properties are response-dependent, for example, that features of objects only qualify as aesthetic properties if they evoke aesthetic experiences in observers.^[25] The terms "aesthetic property" and "aesthetic quality" are often used interchangeably to refer to aspects such as beauty, sublimity, and grandeur. However, some philosophers distinguish the two, associating aesthetic properties with objective features and aesthetic qualities with subjective experiences and emotional responses.^[26]

An aesthetic object is an object with aesthetic properties. One interpretation suggests that aesthetic objects are material entities that evoke aesthetic experiences. According to this view, if a person admires an oil painting then the physical canvas and paint make up the aesthetic object. Another interpretation, associated with the school of phenomenology, argues that aesthetic objects are not material but intentional objects. Intentional objects are part of the content of experiences and their existence depends on the perceiver. An intentional object may accurately reflect a material object, as in the case of veridical perceptions, but can also fail to do so, which happens during perceptual illusions. The phenomenological perspective focuses on the intentional object given in experience rather than the material object considered independently of the perceiver.^[27]

Aesthetic values are a special type of aesthetic properties. They express the sensory appeal of an object as a qualitative measure of how pleasing it is. Aesthetic values contrast with values in other domains, such as moral, epistemic, religious, and economic values. Beauty is usually considered the main aesthetic value, but not the only one. For example, the sublime is another value of things that inspire a feeling of awe and fear. Further suggested values include charm, elegance, harmony, and grace. Historically, pre-modern philosophers typically rejected the idea of multiple distinct aesthetic values. They tended to argue that beauty alone encompasses all that is aesthetically commendable and serves as a unifying concept of the whole domain of aesthetics. Aesthetic values are either positive, like beautiful and sublime, or negative, such as clumsy and boring.^[28] Various attempts have been made to explain why some objects have positive aesthetic values, proposing features like unity, intensity, and the right level of complexity.^[29]

The aesthetic value of beauty is often singled out as a central topic of aesthetics.^[30] It is a key aspect of human experience, influencing both personal decisions and cultural developments.^[31] Examples of beautiful objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans, and artworks. As a positive value, beauty contrasts with ugliness as its negative counterpart. Beauty is typically understood as a quality of objects that involves balance or harmony and evokes admiration or pleasure when perceived, but its precise definition is debated.^[32]

Various theoretical disputes surround the nature of beauty and its role in aesthetics. Some theories understand beauty as an objective feature of external objects. Others emphasize its subjective nature, linking it to personal experience and perception. They argue that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" rather than in the perceived object.^[33] Another central debate concerns the features that all beautiful objects have in common. The classical conception of beauty is rooted in classical antiquity and the Italian Renaissance. Focusing on objective features, it asserts that beauty is an harmonious arrangement of parts into a coherent whole. Aesthetic hedonism, by contrast, is a subjective theory holding that a thing is beautiful if it acts as a source of aesthetic pleasure. Other conceptions define beautiful objects in terms of intrinsic value, the manifestation of ideal forms, or as what evokes love and passion.^[34]

An aesthetic experience is an appreciation of beauty or an awareness of other aesthetic features. In its most typical form, it is a sensory perception of a natural object or an artwork. However, it can also take other forms, such as aesthetic imagination^[a] of fictional objects described in literature.^[36] Internalist theories, like Monroe Beardsley's view, explain aesthetic experience from a first-person perspective, focusing on aspects internal to the experience, such as focus and intensity. By contrast, externalist theories, such as George Dickie's position, argue that the key element of aesthetic experiences comes from the experienced external objects and their aesthetic properties.^[37]

Diverse features are associated with aesthetic experiences, but it is controversial whether any of them are essential. Aesthetic experiences usually appreciate an object for its own sake because of its sensory properties, resulting in aesthetic pleasure from a positive evaluation of the object. This pleasure is typically said to be detached from practical concerns and can involve selfless absorption, allowing imaginative freedom or free play of mental faculties in addition to sensory perception. Some theorists associate this free play with an absence of conceptual activity. Aesthetic experiences may also be normative, meaning that certain responses are appropriate, like the positive appreciation of beauty, but others are not, such as the positive appreciation of ugliness.^[38]

A central aspect of aesthetic experience is the aesthetic attitude—a special way of observing or engaging with art and nature. This attitude involves a form of pure appreciation of perceptual qualities detached from personal desires and practical concerns. It is disinterested in this sense by engaging with an object for its own sake without ulterior motives or practical consequences. For example, the experience of a violent storm through the aesthetic attitude may focus on its intricate patterns of lightning and thunder rather than preparing for its immediate dangers. One characterization understands the aesthetic attitude as a natural form of apprehension that occurs on its own in certain situations. Another outlook holds that the aesthetic attitude is a voluntary stance people can choose to adopt towards any object.^[39] There is debate about the extent and type of emotional engagement a disinterested stance requires, for instance, whether fear during a horror movie can be disinterested.^[40]

The aesthetic attitude is sometimes contrasted with other attitudes, such as the practical attitude, which is interested in usefulness and seeks to utilize or manipulate objects to achieve specific goals. Similarly, it differs from the scientific attitude, which aims to explain phenomena and acquire factual knowledge about the world.^[39] Some philosophers, such as Arthur Schopenhauer and Martin Heidegger, suggest that the aesthetic attitude can reveal aspects of reality obscured in other attitudes.^[41]

Aesthetic experience is further associated with aesthetic pleasure—a form of enjoyment in response to natural and artistic beauty. It is typically characterized as disinterested pleasure. It contrasts with interested pleasure that arises from the satisfaction of desires, such as the joy of achieving a personal goal or indulging in a particular type of food one craved. Another difference is that aesthetic pleasure does not depend on the existence of the enjoyed object, like enjoying the beauty of a sunset in a dream. The joy in achieving a personal goal, by contrast, would be frustrated if one discovered that the achievement was merely a dream.^[42] Philosophers like Immanuel Kant argue that aesthetic pleasure is pre-conceptual, meaning that it arises from a free interplay between imagination and understanding rather than from cognitive judgments or conceptual analysis.^[43] Some theorists distinguish refined from unrefined aesthetic pleasures based on whether the pleasure is evoked by a cultivated taste or an immediate, instinctual response.^[44]

Aesthetic pleasure is central to the characterization of various aesthetic phenomena, which are said to involve or evoke such pleasure. However, the view that aesthetic pleasure is the defining characteristic of the entire aesthetic domain is controversial. It faces challenges in explaining phenomena such as the sublime, drama, tragedy, and various forms of modern art, which may evoke diverse emotions not primarily linked to pleasure.^[44]

Aesthetic judgments are assessments of the aesthetic features and values of objects, expressed in statements like "this music is beautiful". They can apply both to natural objects and artworks. Aesthetic judgments also include assessments about how or why an object has aesthetic value without explicitly determine its overall aesthetic worth, as in the statement "this music is balanced". Many debates in aesthetics concern the nature of aesthetic judgments, in particular, whether they can be as objective and universal as empirical judgments made by natural scientists. Subjectivists argue that aesthetic judgments express personal feelings and dislikes without universal validity. This view is contested by objectivists, who hold that aesthetic judgments describe objective features that are independent of the particular preferences of the judging individual. Intermediate views suggest that the standards of aesthetic judgment are grounded in stable shared dispositions rather than variable individual preferences, resulting in a form of subjective universality.^[45] This position is reflected in Kant's view, which identifies four core features of aesthetic judgments: they are subjective, universal, disinterested, and involve an interplay of sense, imagination, and understanding.^[46]

Philosophers such as Francis Hutcheson and David Hume argue that there are general aesthetic principles or universal criteria that are applied when making aesthetic judgments. Particularists, by contrast, assert that the unique nature of each aesthetic object requires a case-by-case evaluation that cannot be fully subsumed under general principles.^[47] A related debate between rationalism and the immediacy thesis concerns whether aesthetic judgments are mediated through concept application and reasoning or emerge directly from sensory intuition.^[48]

Aesthetic judgments rely on taste,^[b] which is a sensitivity to aesthetic qualities, a capacity to feel aesthetic pleasure, or an ability to discern beauty and other aesthetic qualities. Taste is a type of preference expressed in immediate reactions and is sometimes understood as an inner sense or cognitive faculty. Differences in taste are often used to explain why people disagree about aesthetic judgments and why the judgments of some people, such as art critics with extensive experience and a refined sense, carry more weight than those of casual observers. Taste varies both between cultures and between individuals within a culture.^[c] However, there are also some cross-cultural agreements. Various philosophers argue that taste can be learned to some extent and that the judgments of experienced observers follow similar standards, suggesting the existence of social norms of right and wrong aesthetic assessments.^[51]

The term "aesthetic universal" refers to aspects of taste and other aesthetic phenomena that are shared across different cultures and societies, indicating common features of human nature underlying aesthetics. Suggested general tendencies include the dispositions to engage in artistic expressions or to derive aesthetic pleasure from appreciating these expressions. The existence of more specific shared tendencies is debated. An example is the idea that humans generally find savanna-like landscapes with open grassy plains and scattered trees pleasing.^[52]

Art is a central topic of aesthetics and the main subject of the philosophy of art. It encompasses diverse forms, including painting, sculpture, music, dance, literature, and theater. This field covers both artworks and the skills or activities involved in their creation. Artworks are artifacts or performances typically created by humans. They differ in this respect from naturally occurring aesthetic objects, like landscapes and sunsets.^[53]

A central debate in the philosophy of art concerns the definition of art or how to distinguish it from non-art.^[54] There are diverse theories, each offering a unique perspective about the nature of art.^[55]

Essentialist approaches argue that there is an essence or a set of inherent features shared by all artworks and only by them.^[56] They often define artworks in terms of other aesthetic concepts, such as representation, beauty, or aesthetic experience. An early object-centered approach, first proposed by Plato, characterizes artworks as representations that seek to reflect or imitate certain aspects of reality.^[57] Another definition suggests that artworks are objects designed to evoke aesthetic experiences or pleasure. A related approach proposes that all artworks have certain aesthetic properties in common, such as beauty.^[58] Aesthetic formalism argues that specific formal features, such as a "significant form", are the hallmark of art.^[59] Artist-centered approaches see artistic activity as the essential aspect of artworks. One conception understands artworks as special vehicles through which artists express emotions and other mental states.^[60]

Conventionalist definitions view art as a socially constructed category. This means that it does not primarily depend on the inherent properties of objects, for example, what they represent or what forms they have. Instead, art is defined by social and cultural agreements, which are subject to change. A key motivation for this approach has been the emergence of modern art, which has challenged many earlier conceptions. Conventionalist definitions can explain, for instance, that even mundane ready-made objects like a urinal are considered art if conventions say so. Institutional theories argue that the conventions are set by social institutions of the art world. Because of this social dependence, an object considered art in one society may not be art in another society. Historical theories, another form of conventionalism, assert that the category of art depends on established traditions and historical contexts. They claim that an object becomes part of this category if it stands in the right relation to these traditions, for example, by being created in an artistic context and resembling other recognized artworks.^[61]

There are also hybrid theories that combine elements from other theories. For instance, one approach holds that an object is an artwork if it either meets certain aesthetic standards or is conventionally regarded as art.^[62] The diversity of proposed definitions^[d] and the difficulties in reconciling them have led some philosophers to argue against the existence of precise criteria. Some conclude that a definition is strictly impossible. Others provide vague characterizations, suggesting that the domain of art is characterized by overlapping similarities, known as family resemblance.^[65]

The ontology of art seeks to discern the fundamental categories of being to which all artworks belong.^[e] Universalists argue that artworks are universals—general or repeatable entities that can have several instances at the same time. For example, a novel can have many copies, a film can have many screenings, and a photo can have many prints. One version of this view distinguishes artworks as types from their instances, which are considered tokens of this type. Particularists reject the idea that artworks are universals, arguing instead that they are particulars or unique concrete entities. For them, if there are several instances then the artwork is the collection or sum of all instances. According to this view, Alfred Stieglitz's photograph The Steerage is not a type underlying its prints but rather the collection or sum of all prints together.^[67]

A similar discussion addresses whether artworks are material objects, which exist independent of observers, or intentional objects, which exist in the experience of observers.^[68] Pluralists argue that different types of artworks belong to distinct ontological categories. Contextualists accept this view and further propose that the ontological category depends on the context of discussion.^[69] Deflationism is skeptical about the fundamental existence of artworks in any form. It acknowledges that the term art may be practically useful in everyday language but rejects that it refers to any fundamental entities of reality.^[70]

Artworks are categorized in various ways. Some distinctions focus on the medium used to express artistic ideas. For example, paintings typically use paint, such as oil or acryl paint, which is distributed on a surface, whereas dance involves bodily movements. Similarly, music is performed using instruments and voice to produce sounds, and literature relies on language. Hybrid forms like opera and film combine several of these elements.^[71] Another distinction is between performance works and object works. Performance works, like a song performed on stage, are dynamically enacted in time, whereas object works, like a painting, have a more static nature.^[72] Artworks can also be classified by style, such as impressionism and surrealism, and by their intended purpose, like political and religious art.^[73]

The meaning of an artwork is what is involved in understanding it or comprehending what it communicates, encompassing factors such as representation and expression. Certain aspects of meaning may be directly accessible while others require in-depth interpretation, for example, to grasp symbolic or metaphorical elements. Understanding influences aesthetic experience and for certain artworks, a comprehensive understanding may be required to fully appreciate them.^[74] One approach to the analysis of meaning is the distinction between form and content. Content refers to what is presented, such as the depicted topic, expressed ideas, and conceptual messages. Form refers to how the content is presented, such as medium, technique, composition, and style. Form encompasses diverse modes of presentation in different art forms, like color and spatial arrangement in painting, harmony and rhythm in music, and narrative voice and plot structure in literature.^[75]

Representation is a depiction of real or imagined entities. For example, a portrait painting represents a person, while a fantasy novel represents an imaginary chain of events. Similarity is a crucial element in many forms of artistic representation, meaning that the artwork resembles the depicted entity. However, representation can also happen through other means, such as conventional symbols and established codes. It is particularly prevalent in some art forms and styles, such as classical art and realism. Since antiquity, representation has been a key concept in theories of art, such as Plato's idea of defining art as imitation. However, it is controversial whether representation plays a central role in all art forms, including music^[f] and abstract modern art.^[77]

Expression is the conveyance of psychological states, such as emotions, moods, and attitudes. For example, a painter may depict a barren landscape in muted colors to express sadness, while a musician might use a fast tempo and upbeat melody to convey excitement. The expressed mental states often align with the artist's personal experience. However, this is not necessarily the case and artists may explore psychological states they observed in others or entirely fictional experiences. An artwork can express a mental state like sadness by evoking it in the experience of the audience. Alternatively, the expression can also happen if observers recognize the presence of sadness in the artwork even if they do not personally feel it. Expression theories consider expression a core feature of artworks. They characterize artworks as expressions of the artist's mind, focusing on creativity and originality in the manifestation of aesthetic experiences.^[78]

The process of interpretation is the attempt to uncover^[g] the meaning of an artwork to understand its significance and value. In the widest sense, interpretation encompasses any way of assigning meaning, including obvious descriptions of depicted entities and explanations of literal word meanings. In philosophy of art, the term is typically used in a more narrow sense for assignments of meaning that involve deeper analysis and creative thought. Interpretations aim to discover underlying aspects that are relevant to the understanding and appreciation of the artwork.^[80]

The terms interpretation and criticism are sometimes used interchangeably, but criticism is typically associated with more components. In addition to interpretation, it provides an initial description of an artwork's general features to enable readers to form a mental image of the most important aspects. Criticism also classifies artworks through categories like style and genre, relates them to art-historical traditions, and evaluates their positive and negative qualities.^[81]

Critics sometimes propose conflicting interpretations of the same artwork. According to critical monism, there is only one comprehensive correct interpretation, implying that conflicting interpretations cannot both be correct. Critical pluralism, by contrast, asserts that there can be different but equally valid interpretations and that it is not always possible to determine which of two conflicting interpretations is superior. A similar issue involves whether interpretations can be true or false in an objective sense.^[82]

Various frameworks of interpretation have been proposed. According to intentionalism, the meaning of an artwork is determined by the author's intent—their reasons and motives that led to the creation of the artwork.^[h] This typically involves analyzing the ideas the artist aimed to express but can also include a biographical analysis to learn about psychological and social circumstances in the artist's life.^[84]

Intentionalism is a controversial theory, termed intentional fallacy by its critics. Some objections point to cases where the author's intention cannot be known, where the author themselves cannot be identified, or where no traditional author exists, as artworks created by artificial intelligence. In these cases, meaning would be inaccessible or non-existent.^[i] Other objections assert that an artist may fail to accurately express their intention or may manifest unintended aesthetic features, suggesting that an artwork can contain both less and more than the artist intended.^[86]

An alternative to intentionalism argues that meaning is determined by artistic, stylistic, linguistic, and other cultural conventions. For example, linguistic conventions determine the literal meanings of words and thereby influence the overall meaning of a poem. Another framework holds that meaning is shaped by how the audience, rather than the author, interprets or would interprets the intention underlying the work.^[87] Artistic formalism proposes a different approach by focusing interpretation exclusively on formal or perceptual features of artworks.^[88]

Aestheticism and instrumentalism are theories about the value of art. Aestheticism asserts that the primary value of art lies in its intrinsic aesthetic merits, independent of any external purposes. This idea of the autonomy of art is expressed in the slogan "art for art's sake". Strong forms of aestheticism not only disregard external purposes but see them as detrimental influences that undermine artistic integrity. Instrumentalism, by contrast, explains the value of art by the effects it has on other domains. It understands art as a means to things such as moral education, spiritual growth, therapeutic benefits, and social cohesion.^[89]

The individual arts are diverse practices or disciplines in the domain of art. They encompass a wide range of fields, including traditionally established forms such as painting, music, and literature, as well as newer types like video games.^[90] One classification divides them into visual arts, literary arts, and performance arts. However, the boundaries between these categories are not always clear, and alternative classifications have been proposed.^[91]

Painting is a visual art in which a painter applies colors to a surface. It allows for a diverse range of motives and styles, and is often considered a paradigm form of art.^[92] The representation of real entities plays a central role in many forms of painting, ranging from landscapes and people to historic events. This process involves artistic choices that go beyond simple replication, such as guiding the viewer's attention to specific aspects or highlighting important but easily overlooked features.^[93] The issue of representation is also crucial in photography, a visual art shaped by technological developments in camera design and editing processes. A key topic in the philosophy of photography concerns its mechanical manner of authentically representing real objects, frequently drawing parallels and distinctions with painting. The status of photographs as true artworks is disputed, with critics arguing that the mechanical nature of capturing images lacks the necessary artistic creativity.^[94]

Music is a performance art in which sounds are combined to create aesthetic patterns, relying on aspects such as melody and rhythm. Unlike painting and photography, music is typically less associated with objective representation, having a closer link to the expression of emotions. A key discussion in the philosophy of music revolves around the definition of music or the criteria under which a combination of sounds is music. Proposals range from objective criteria, such as the organization of sounds, to subjective criteria, like the way sounds are interpreted or experienced.^[95] Dance is another performance art in which dancers perform a series of bodily movements, often following a choreography. It is typically accompanied by music and shares with music an emphasis on expressive features.^[96]

Architecture is the art or craft of designing and building, encompassing a wide range of structures from monuments and cathedrals to skyscrapers and residential homes. It typically combines aesthetic with functional goals, seeking to create buildings that are both visually appealing and practically useful. This dual nature is a central topic of the philosophy of architecture, with one theory suggesting that mere buildings can be distinguished from artistic architecture by the presence of decorative elements.^[97] Sculpture is another art form that, like architecture, involves the creation of three-dimensional works. Sculptures are usually static objects made of robust materials like stone, metal, and wood. However, the field of sculpture is broader and covers diverse three-dimensional objects, including kinetic sculptures. Key discussions in the philosophy of sculpture address the definition, representational aspects, and aesthetic features of sculptures as well as the influence of the chosen material.^[98]

Literature has language as its primary medium. In its widest sense, literature encompasses any written document. However, the term is typically used in a more narrow sense in aesthetics for forms of writing that belong to the high arts, such as poems, novels, and drama. Literature as an art is often characterized by its deliberate, elaborate, and organized use of language, but there is no universally accepted demarcation between artistic literature and other forms of writing.^[99] Poetry is a distinct form of literature often written in verses composed of several lines that may follow specific patterns, such as meter and rhyme. Many poems are characterized by a deliberate economical use of language that seeks to evoke specific experiences while being difficult to paraphrase.^[100]

Theater is a performance art that combines elements from other art forms. It typically includes a carefully prepared set or stage where actors perform, usually incorporating storytelling and sound design to create immersive experiences. Theater is normally performed before a live audience, which can create a sense of immediacy that is less prevalent in related art forms, such as film.^[101] Film also integrates aspects from various artistic disciplines but relies more heavily on technological means of recording and editing. Films can involve actors but may also include animated characters or document real-life events. They are normally the result of a collaborative efforts of many people, which complicates the identification of a singular author in the traditional sense.^[102]

Video games are a more recent form of art. Like theater and film, they usually blend visual, auditory, and narrative elements. They typically stand out through their emphasis on player interaction, allowing active exploration of and engagement with the game world.^[103] The status of films and video games as serious forms of art is disputed. Proponents tend to emphasize their aesthetic qualities, while critics often point to their association with mass production and popular culture as counterarguments.^[104] For video games, a related debate centers on the elements of competition and winning, questioning whether these elements run counter to the spirit of art.^[105]

A large number of derivative forms of aesthetics have developed as contemporary and transitory forms of inquiry associated with the field of aesthetics which include the post-modern, psychoanalytic, scientific, and mathematical among others.^{[citation needed]}

Early-twentieth-century artists, poets and composers challenged existing notions of beauty, broadening the scope of art and aesthetics. In 1941, Eli Siegel, American philosopher and poet, founded Aesthetic Realism, the philosophy that reality itself is aesthetic, and that "The world, art, and self explain each other: each is the aesthetic oneness of opposites."^[106][107]

Various attempts have been made to define Post-Modern Aesthetics. The challenge to the assumption that beauty was central to art and aesthetics, thought to be original, is actually continuous with older aesthetic theory; Aristotle was the first in the Western tradition to classify "beauty" into types as in his theory of drama, and Kant made a distinction between beauty and the sublime. What was new was a refusal to credit the higher status of certain types, where the taxonomy implied a preference for tragedy and the sublime to comedy and the Rococo.

Croce suggested that "expression" is central in the way that beauty was once thought to be central. George Dickie suggested that the sociological institutions of the art world were the glue binding art and sensibility into unities.^[108] Marshall McLuhan suggested that art always functions as a "counter-environment" designed to make visible what is usually invisible about a society.^[109] Theodor Adorno felt that aesthetics could not proceed without confronting the role of the culture industry in the commodification of art and aesthetic experience. Hal Foster attempted to portray the reaction against beauty and Modernist art in The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture. Arthur Danto has described this reaction as "kalliphobia" (after the Greek word for beauty, κάλλος kallos).^[110] André Malraux explains that the notion of beauty was connected to a particular conception of art that arose with the Renaissance and was still dominant in the eighteenth century (but was supplanted later). The discipline of aesthetics, which originated in the eighteenth century, mistook this transient state of affairs for a revelation of the permanent nature of art.^[111] Brian Massumi suggests to reconsider beauty following the aesthetical thought in the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari.^[112] Walter Benjamin echoed Malraux in believing aesthetics was a comparatively recent invention, a view proven wrong in the late 1970s, when Abraham Moles and Frieder Nake analyzed links between beauty, information processing, and information theory. Denis Dutton in "The Art Instinct" also proposed that an aesthetic sense was a vital evolutionary factor.

Jean-François Lyotard re-invokes the Kantian distinction between taste and the sublime. Sublime painting, unlike kitsch realism, "... will enable us to see only by making it impossible to see; it will please only by causing pain."^[113][114]

Sigmund Freud inaugurated aesthetical thinking in Psychoanalysis mainly via the "Uncanny" as aesthetical affect.^[115] Following Freud and Merleau-Ponty,^[116] Jacques Lacan theorized aesthetics in terms of sublimation and the Thing.^[117]

The relation of Marxist aesthetics to post-modern aesthetics is still a contentious area of debate.

The field of experimental aesthetics was founded by Gustav Theodor Fechner in the 19th century. Experimental aesthetics in these times had been characterized by a subject-based, inductive approach. The analysis of individual experience and behaviour based on experimental methods is a central part of experimental aesthetics. In particular, the perception of works of art,^[118] music, sound,^[119] or modern items such as websites^[120] or other IT products^[121] is studied. Experimental aesthetics is strongly oriented towards the natural sciences. Modern approaches mostly come from the fields of cognitive psychology (aesthetic cognitivism) or neuroscience (neuroaesthetics^[122]).

Mathematical considerations, such as symmetry and complexity, are used for analysis in theoretical aesthetics. This is different from the aesthetic considerations of applied aesthetics used in the study of mathematical beauty. Aesthetic considerations such as symmetry and simplicity are used in areas of philosophy, such as ethics and theoretical physics and cosmology to define truth, outside of empirical considerations. Beauty and Truth have been argued to be nearly synonymous,^[123] as reflected in the statement "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" in the poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats, or by the Hindu motto "Satyam Shivam Sundaram" (Satya (Truth) is Shiva (God), and Shiva is Sundaram (Beautiful)). The fact that judgments of beauty and judgments of truth both are influenced by processing fluency, which is the ease with which information can be processed, has been presented as an explanation for why beauty is sometimes equated with truth.^[124] Recent research found that people use beauty as an indication for truth in mathematical pattern tasks.^[125] However, scientists including the mathematician David Orrell^[126] and physicist Marcelo Gleiser^[127] have argued that the emphasis on aesthetic criteria such as symmetry is equally capable of leading scientists astray.

Computational approaches to aesthetics emerged amid efforts to use computer science methods "to predict, convey, and evoke emotional response to a piece of art.^[128] In this field, aesthetics is not considered to be dependent on taste but is a matter of cognition, and, consequently, learning.^[129] In 1928, the mathematician George David Birkhoff created an aesthetic measure ${\displaystyle M=O/C}$ as the ratio of order to complexity.^[130]

In the 1960s and 1970s, Max Bense, Abraham Moles and Frieder Nake were among the first to analyze links between aesthetics, information processing, and information theory.^{[131][132][133]} Max Bense, for example, built on Birkhoff's aesthetic measure and proposed a similar information theoretic measure ${\displaystyle M_{\ddot {a}}=R/H}$, where ${\displaystyle R}$ is the redundancy and ${\displaystyle H}$ the entropy, which assigns higher value to simpler artworks.

In the 1990s, Jürgen Schmidhuber described an algorithmic theory of beauty. This theory takes the subjectivity of the observer into account and postulates that among several observations classified as comparable by a given subjective observer, the most aesthetically pleasing is the one that is encoded by the shortest description, following the direction of previous approaches.^[134][135] Schmidhuber's theory explicitly distinguishes between that which is beautiful and that which is interesting, stating that interestingness corresponds to the first derivative of subjectively perceived beauty. He supposes that every observer continually tries to improve the predictability and compressibility of their observations by identifying regularities like repetition, symmetry, and fractal self-similarity.^{[136][137][138][139]}

Since about 2005, computer scientists have attempted to develop automated methods to infer aesthetic quality of images.^{[140][141][142][143]} Typically, these approaches follow a machine learning approach, where large numbers of manually rated photographs are used to "teach" a computer about what visual properties are of relevance to aesthetic quality. A study by Y. Li and C. J. Hu employed Birkhoff's measurement in their statistical learning approach where order and complexity of an image determined aesthetic value.^[144] The image complexity was computed using information theory while the order was determined using fractal compression.^[144] There is also the case of the Acquine engine, developed at Penn State University, that rates natural photographs uploaded by users.^[145]

There have also been relatively successful attempts with regard to music.^[146] Computational approaches have also been attempted in film making as demonstrated by a software model developed by Chitra Dorai and a group of researchers at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.^[147] The tool predicted aesthetics based on the values of narrative elements.^[147] A relation between Max Bense's mathematical formulation of aesthetics in terms of "redundancy" and "complexity" and theories of musical anticipation was offered using the notion of Information Rate.^[148]

Evolutionary aesthetics refers to evolutionary psychology theories in which the basic aesthetic preferences of Homo sapiens are argued to have evolved in order to enhance survival and reproductive success.^[149] One example being that humans are argued to find beautiful and prefer landscapes which were good habitats in the ancestral environment. Another example is that body symmetry and proportion are important aspects of physical attractiveness which may be due to this indicating good health during body growth. Evolutionary explanations for aesthetical preferences are important parts of evolutionary musicology, Darwinian literary studies, and the study of the evolution of emotion.

Aesthetic ethics refers to the idea that human conduct and behaviour ought to be governed by that which is beautiful and attractive. John Dewey^[150] has pointed out that the unity of aesthetics and ethics is in fact reflected in our understanding of behaviour being "fair"—the word having a double meaning of attractive and morally acceptable. More recently, James Page^[151] has suggested that aesthetic ethics might be taken to form a philosophical rationale for peace education.

As well as being applied to art, aesthetics can also be applied to cultural objects, such as crosses or tools. For example, aesthetic coupling between art-objects and medical topics was made by speakers working for the US Information Agency. Art slides were linked to slides of pharmacological data, which improved attention and retention by simultaneous activation of intuitive right brain with rational left.^[152] It can also be used in topics as diverse as cartography, mathematics, gastronomy, fashion and website design.^{[153][154][155][156][157]}

Guy Sircello has pioneered efforts in analytic philosophy to develop a rigorous theory of aesthetics, focusing on the concepts of beauty,^[158] love^[159] and sublimity.^[160] In contrast to romantic theorists, Sircello argued for the objectivity of beauty and formulated a theory of love on that basis.

British philosopher and theorist of conceptual art aesthetics, Peter Osborne, makes the point that "'post-conceptual art' aesthetic does not concern a particular type of contemporary art so much as the historical-ontological condition for the production of contemporary art in general ...".^[161] Osborne noted that contemporary art is 'post-conceptual' in a public lecture delivered in 2010.

Gary Tedman has put forward a theory of a subjectless aesthetics derived from Karl Marx's concept of alienation, and Louis Althusser's antihumanism, using elements of Freud's group psychology, defining a concept of the 'aesthetic level of practice'.^[162]

Gregory Loewen has suggested that the subject is key in the interaction with the aesthetic object. The work of art serves as a vehicle for the projection of the individual's identity into the world of objects, as well as being the irruptive source of much of what is uncanny in modern life. As well, art is used to memorialize individuated biographies in a manner that allows persons to imagine that they are part of something greater than themselves.^[163]

The philosophy of aesthetics as a practice has been criticized by some sociologists and writers of art and society. Raymond Williams, for example, argues that there is no unique and or individual aesthetic object which can be extrapolated from the art world, but rather that there is a continuum of cultural forms and experience of which ordinary speech and experiences may signal as art. By "art" we may frame several artistic "works" or "creations" as so though this reference remains within the institution or special event which creates it and this leaves some works or other possible "art" outside of the frame work, or other interpretations such as other phenomenon which may not be considered as "art".^[164]

Pierre Bourdieu disagrees with Kant's idea of the "aesthetic". He argues that Kant's "aesthetic" merely represents an experience that is the product of an elevated class habitus and scholarly leisure as opposed to other possible and equally valid "aesthetic" experiences which lay outside Kant's narrow definition.^[165]

Timothy Laurie argues that theories of musical aesthetics "framed entirely in terms of appreciation, contemplation or reflection risk idealizing an implausibly unmotivated listener defined solely through musical objects, rather than seeing them as a person for whom complex intentions and motivations produce variable attractions to cultural objects and practices".^[166]