ABSTRACT
Two strategies have dominated attempts to account for the nature of aesthetic taste. On the one hand, we find an affectivist understanding of taste where aesthetic judgement primarily has to do with the expression of a subjective response. On the other hand, non-affectivist approaches claim that to judge or assess something aesthetically is to epistemically track its relevant aesthetic properties. Our main aim is to show that neither emotion nor perception can explain the nature of aesthetic taste single-handedly. In this chapter, we will examine the relationship between perceptual discernment and emotional sensibility as manifested in the processes involved in the making of aesthetic judgements. Is it the nature of the specific aesthetic property in question which determines the way in which perception and emotion are balanced in aesthetic judgement, or is it rather something about how our sensory skills operate? One of the notions we would like to explore in this context is the idea of attunement. According to our proposed picture, the exercise of aesthetic taste involves an adjustment of one’s emotional sensibility to the perceived aesthetic character of an object. From here, we will posit both emotional and perceptual training as part of an agent’s aesthetic education.
