“Edith Landmann-Kalischer on Aesthetic Demarcation and Normativity”
17 October 2018, 4-6 PM, Senate House –Gordon Room, Ground Floor.
Abstract:
Two perennial questions in aesthetics, among others, are the demarcation question, viz., what, if anything distinguishes the aesthetic domain from the cognitive or moral domains, and the normative question, viz., what is the source of aesthetic normativity. Although recent attempts to answer these questions can be found in contemporary literature, in this paper, I examine the answers defended by the early phenomenologist, Edith Landmann-Kalischer. Unlike many contemporary theorists who insists on the sharp demarcation of aesthetic from cognitive judgments, I show that Landmann-Kalischer treats aesthetic judgments as significantly similar to a kind of cognitive judgment, viz., those involved in perception. Meanwhile, with respect to the normative question, I claim that, in contrast to the now-dominant view that traces aesthetic normativity back to pleasure, Landmann-Kalischer locates the source of aesthetic normativity in the cognitive import of aesthetic judgments. I argue that this blend of cognitivism regarding the aesthetic domain and anti-hedonism about aesthetic value merits further attention in current debates about aesthetic demarcation and normativity.
UPCOMING
Maarten Steenhagen (Cambridge)
Nov. 14, 4-6PM, Room 246, Senate House
Aaron Meskin (Leeds)
Dec. 5, 4-6PM, Room 246, Senate House
“The social construction of an aesthetic kind: ‘foodie’ and foodies”