On Oct 11, 2008, at 8:32 PM, GEOFF CREALOCK wrote:
"lack of awareness of one's aesthetic response does not mean that
the object did not evoke any response;"
Michael: if the experiencer is unconscious/lacks awareness of an
aesthetic response, how does someone else know that the experiencer
had the experience? From studying others' responses to a stimulus/
art work, one might be led to assume a response but how would anyone
know if the experiencer fails to report it. Or, could you know
something about my experience that I don't know? Well, OK, brain
imaging studies aside.
First, my statement pointed to a logical inference: For me to say that
I was not aware of an aesthetic response to X does not mean that X did
not evoke a response in me: perhaps the stimulus was weak and the
reaction unnoticed, or I was distracted or concerned about something
else, etc. Second, whether one can discern another's reactions is not
the point. I can't taste what you taste, nor feel the pain you report,
etc. I can only report that something affected me in an "aesthetic"
way, or perhaps I can only report that I felt no stimulus from
something that excited you. The matter here isn't whether your
response is evident to me or not. It's whether it's evident to you.
I've had many occasions to remark that the works of Y have "grown on"
me to the point that I now take notice of them, whereas before, I was
neutral, i.e., unaffected by them.
Point 2: It doesn't trouble me, but I think we're meanng different
things by aesthetic. I might refer to what you refer to as simply a
response - I don't get the aesthetic part in your sense
Aesthetic: of the senses, of perceptible things. cf. anaesthetic.
Nowadays, "aesthetic" is used almost exclusively to mean the
appreciation of beauty ... until it is extended to mean the
appreciation of the natural effects of, say, a sunset ... and then
speaker often stretches the usage until it begins to embrace "the
sublime" and other emotional states occasioned by the vastness of
natural phenomena.
"I trust I make myself obscure?"
"Perfectly, Thomas."
--A Man for All Seasons
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Michael Brady
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
