The Problem of

Aesthetic Judgment
Czarina Charmaine S. Diwa

Louie Amado S. Gutierrez

Angelica Noelle P. Manaloto

Charmaine Camille D. Manilay

Reah Jilda C. Ondona

 TERMS
 Aesthetics- theorizing about the fine arts
 Works of art- certain products of human
activity that are valued because they are in
some unique way pleasing to the eye or ear
 Aesthetic value- the quality by virtue of which
something is said to be a work of art
 Aesthetic valuator- one who claims the
ability to assess such value (whether that
individual is an art critic, art curator of a
museum or simply a private citizen)
 WORKS OF ART
 Purported work of art- something
(anything) that is alleged by someone
(anyone) to have aesthetic value
 Acknowledged work of art- something
(anything) that is generally regarded to
have aesthetic value
TWO BROAD CLASSES OF
FINE ARTS
 Visual Arts- painting, sculpture, architecture,
photography, print-making – all the art forms
that attempt to create static (unchanging)
objects whose principal or only value is the
aesthetic quality that they are alleged to possess
 Performing Arts- music, drama, and dance –
art forms whose “end product” is a
“performance” of some sort by one or more
human beings
> Literature- neither a visual art nor a
performing art
 The products of the performing arts
share with those of the visual arts the
important characteristic that their
principal reason for being is their
alleged aesthetic value. Their reason for
being is to embody the aesthetic value
that they are alleged or acknowledged to
have.
 Aesthetic value has no relation to utility
(practical usefulness).
 APPLIED ARTS
 Applied arts- an object being created
for some purpose other than to
embody aesthetic value; involves the
utility of the object
 Artisans/ Craftsmen- practitioners
of the applied arts
 THEORIES OF AESTHETIC
JUDGMENT
1. Objectivist Theories- a statement claiming that
something has aesthetic value is a factual
assertion (a claim that the object in question
has such and such a quality or group of qualities
that justify the ascription of aesthetic value)
 Aesthetic intuitionism- the assertion that
something has aesthetic value is equivalent to the
assertion that it is beautiful. It is beautiful is held
to mean that it possesses in some degree the
nonnatural quality “beauty”.
 THEORIES OF AESTHETIC
JUDGMENT
2. Subjectivist Theories- statements about
aesthetic value are merely reports of the
private preferences of some individual or
group of individuals
 Private subjectivism- the assertion that
something has aesthetic value is merely an
expression of the personal preference of the
person making the assertion.
 THEORIES OF AESTHETIC
JUDGMENT
3. Mixed Theory/ Objective Relativism/
Cultivated Taste Theory
- the assertion that something has aesthetic
value is indeed a claim that it has certain
objective qualities (an to that extent it is an
objectivist theory), but the fact that these
particular qualities are appropriate criteria of
aesthetic value is said to be related to the fact
that we human beings are made the way we
are.