Please join us on Friday, February 21, for our Philosophy Department Colloquium with Professor Samantha Matherne.

 

The event will start at 3:00 pm in Claudia Cohen Hall 402, with a reception to follow in the lounge.

 

 

Toward a Social Theory of Aesthetic Autonomy: Schiller and Staël

 

 

Abstract:  

In the aesthetic domain, a form of autonomy is often prized: rather than letting our aesthetic judgments be determined by others, we seek to determine for ourselves whether something has aesthetic value. In recent discussions, aesthetic autonomy has been cast primarily in individualist terms, as a matter of an individual exercising their capacities to arrive at an aesthetic judgment. Though acknowledging these individual dimensions is important, a wholly individualist theory of aesthetic autonomy neglects its equally important social dimensions. In order to bring this social dimension to the fore, I draw on the work of two philosophers who were especially alert to the social aspects, both real and ideal, of aesthetic autonomy: Friedrich Schiller and Germaine de Staël. Taking my cue from their work, I propose a social theory of aesthetic autonomy as a kind of social good that should, but might not obtain, and that serves as a condition of individual aesthetic autonomy.