ABSTRACT
Aesthetic properties are secondary properties: objects have aesthetic properties because they have properties of other kinds. It is not merely that an object cannot have aesthetic properties unless it has other kinds of properties; in that sense shape is a secondary property, for an object cannot have shape unless it has size. It is rather that what particular aesthetic properties an object has is determined by its other properties. What kinds of properties do aesthetic properties supervene on? What precise form should a thesis of aesthetic supervenience take? When we were examining the claim of weak supervenience we saw two kinds of difference between works that could make them aesthetically different; they might be structurally different and they might be art historically different. Art historical properties are relational properties; properties that the work has in virtue of its relations to the artist, to other works, and to the community in which it was produced.
