I don't think an aesthetic experience is different from any other except to
the degree that we enjoy and get involved with it.
We can never know everything about what we or anyone else has experienced --
but still we can be objective about certain, specific mis-apprehensions.
A person who has seen "Hamlet" and doesn't realize that the uncle has murdered
the father has missed something very important about the play. (whether that
person believes in ghosts or not)
Just so -- a person who is mostly impressed by the virtuosity of a musical
performance has not been strongly affected by the music -- at least at the
moment that recollection is occurring (which is, BTW, my usual response to
"free jazz" -- all that impresses me is the instrumental virtuosity)
Virtuosity is mostly irrelevant in the visual arts -- but it's a very big deal
in the world of classical music because there is so much intense competition
among so many people to perform so few pieces. Virtuosity is what sets them
apart -- and it's also what most people in the audience are going to notice.
I've gotten to know a husband-wife team of classical musicians over the past
few years -- where the husband stands out as an incredible virtuoso on his
instrument. He does things very few other people can do -- and as a result he
gives master classes and performances continuously all over the world.
But in my humble opinion -- his wife delivers a much more emotional
performance -- and that's what I buy concert tickets to hear - with someone
like him as the perfect accompanist.
It's like the difference between a world-class gymnast at the Olympics - and a
ballerina -- which is a real difference -- even if most people prefer to watch
the gymnasts.
(and yes -- there is some music that seems to have been written just to show
off virtuosity -- but nobody puts Paganini at the same level as Beethoven --
do they ?)
There *are* wrong reasons for liking things -- and that is the basis of an
education in aesthetics - an education that seems to be completely outside the
scope of the Humanities as we now know them.
******************
>But the bigger issue is related to whether or not we can judge anyone's
aesthetic subjectivity. I think not. How is Chris, or anyone, to know what
my aesthetic experience is? How can anyone say that another's aesthetic
experience is wrong, or limited, or missing? This the the fundamental
question we ask about aesthetic experience. Can it be objectively prescribed
or measured? Can we experience art for the wrong reasons? Are there
proscriptively wrong reasons? I say no. No. No. And No. That's why I quoted
Gombrich a while back, his saying that there are no wrong reasons for liking
an artwork. This does not exclude potential amplifications of liking.
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