Habits, Aesthetic Experience and Normativity

Alessandro Bertinetto (University of Turin)

Habits, Aesthetic Experience and Normativity

Alessandro Bertinetto (University of Turin)

March 28th (Thursday), 2024 18:00-19:45

Kyoto University, Graduate School of Letters

Meeting room on the 1st floor/ 1F 会議室

Abstract:

Contrary to the prevalent belief that habits impede aesthetic experiences, I will argue that there is a profound link between habits and the aesthetic dimension of experience. Following the ideas of both past and present philosophers, I will defend that habits are a source of aesthetic experiences and that aesthetic experiences (in general—not just within the confines of art) require and are structured by what I term “aesthetic habits”. These habits not only scaffold and shape aesthetic practices but also exert a normative influence. Hence, building on the notion that habits can facilitate the resolution of what I designate as the “dilemma of aesthetic normativity,” I will demonstrate that discussing habits—their significance for aesthetic experience, along with their improvisational plasticity and adaptability—enables a more comprehensive understanding and explanation of the situational nature of aesthetic normativity.

Alessandro Bertinetto is full professor of Aesthetics at the University of Turin (Italy). He was an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the FU Berlin and a member of the Executive Committee of the European Society for Aesthetics (2012–2018). One of his most recent books is The Aesthetics of Improvisation, Leiden, Brill 2022.

For more details write to [email protected]

Organized by Fernando Wirtz and the ERG