Aesthetic emotions, what are their cognitive functions?

Frontiers in Psychology

Leonid Perlovsky¹ 

关键词: emotions;    aesthetics;    beautiful;    cognition;    music;    Kant;    mind;    mathematical models;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00098

学科分类：心理学（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

A huge number of publications are devoted to aesthetic emotions; Google Scholar gives 319,000 references. Nevertheless, finding a definition of what is aesthetic is not easy. Most authors use no definitions. Wikipedia (2013) gives a circular definition: “aesthetic emotions… are felt during aesthetic activity.” This is similar to the “institutional theory of art” that defines art as what is considered so by an accepted art institution (Dickie, 1974). In 70 years of discussions in the Journal of Aesthetic and Art Criticism this theory, despite its obvious flaws, remains accepted among philosophers of art. Scientists studying emotions should aspire for a more meaningful definition, yet it is not easy to find. For example, Juslin (2013) devotes a special section in his work introducing aesthetic emotions as a fundamental innovation of his theory of musical emotions, yet no definition of aesthetic is given.

【 授权许可】

CC BY