Interpretation in Aesthetic Experiences

Abstract

In accordance with the presupposition formulated in the introduction to this book, the starting point for our reflections is the co-relation between the concept of an aesthetic experience and the concept of an object possessing an aesthetic value. We treat aesthetic experiences as reactions to objects to which one ascribes an aesthetic value. However, this does not mean that an object which gives rise in us to such an experience and to which for this reason we ascribe aesthetic value, always had to be the main object of such an experience, i.e., the object on which our consciousness is concentrated. When we stand before an interesting, expressive portrait our attention is often drawn not by the portrait to which we ascribe an aesthetic value but by the person portrayed. While reading an artistic description we do not think usually about the words which we read but about the objects described.