ABSTRACT
Vernon Lee's contributions to aesthetic psychology have been underappreciated. She, herself, worried that her efforts in this domain had been wasted, and there has been little uptake in her time or ours. A casual read might suggest that she is a mere expositor of the Einfühlung (empathy) theory in German aesthetics. This chapter explores the evolution of Lee's views about aesthetic experience and aesthetic preference. Her mature view is shown to be rich, distinctive, and ostensibly plausible. It combines a dynamic form of empathy, as well as emotional processes, committing to specific and, in principle, testable claims about aesthetic responses. The viability of these proposals is explored by relating Lee to contemporary theoretical work in embodied cognition and theoretical work in empirical aesthetics. Lee's mature theory anticipates current trends and is broadly consistent with recent findings. Many of her specific conjectures await direct investigation, and could be used to guide ongoing research.
