ABSTRACT

This chapter provides an alternative theory of aesthetic appraisal that, on the one hand, can better cope with the problems noted so far and with the novelties of contemporary art, and on the other, gives pride of place to the attitudes of the naive observer. It argues that aesthetic appraisal consists of two distinct and largely autonomous attitudes the authors can take toward artworks, though they can be in many ways intertwined with one another. Kendall Walton's seminal paper Categories of Art presents a theory of aesthetic appreciation that comes to the thesis—except that it does not acknowledge the important role of stereotypes, which were brought to the philosopher's attention especially by Hilary Putnam at the end of the sixties. Many authors think that opinions about the aesthetic quality of artworks are entirely subjective and highly controversial.