ABSTRACT

A common theme in many recent discussions of judgements of aesthetic taste is the value of appreciation. Appreciation, it is either claimed or assumed, is the sine qua non of our aesthetic practices. In this chapter, we argue that this position is rather over-appreciative when it comes to extolling the virtues of appreciation. We do not deny the obvious fact that many of our aesthetic practices aim at appreciation but, rather, argue that (i) these aren’t the only important aesthetic practices we engage in and (ii) even with respect to these practices, appreciation needn’t be the sole (nor even the most important) aim. In order to demonstrate these points, we focus on some illustrative examples from the debate concerning testimony and the Acquaintance Principle in aesthetics.