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the aesthetic point of view: selected essays

monroe c. beardsley

cornell university press, 1982


he seems to be a big shot


sir henry wotton on architecture: “commodity, firmness and delight”, which could also be linked to programming.

taking a point of view breaks up arguments. it’s no longer about being good, but about being “good of a kind”.

To take an aesthetic point of view with regard to X, is to take an interest in whatever aesthetic value X may possess, or is obtainable by means of X

searching aesthetic and realizing it

what are the aesthetic “rules of relevance”? Those implicitly or explicitly followed by people.

aesthetic value is the ability to provide aesthetic gratification (I would disagree, thinking that aesthetics can be combined with other fields, and it’s not so isolated. aesthetics provide cognitive stimulation, is better than gratification). but the interesting question is that of the type of aesthetic gratification, as opposed to other types.

Gratification is aesthetic when it is primarily obtained primarily from attention to the formal unity and/or the intensity of regional quality.

he sees aesthetic value as the one that is obtained under “optimal circumstances”. this is nice, but unrealistic. indeed, i’d prefer looking at it under “realistic” circumstances—cf. the “rules of relevance”

always adopting an aesthetic point of view might be detracting to other points of view, more important (e.g. engineering, soundness, etc.)

the objects of aesthetic interest—such as harmonious design, good proportions, or intense expressiveness—are not drugs, but part of the breadth of life (p. 34)