Aesthetic testimony: What can we learn from others about beauty and art?

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 69 (1):65–91 (2004)
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Abstract

The thesis that aesthetic testimony cannot provide aesthetic justification or knowledge is widely accepted--even by realists about aesthetic properties and values. This Kantian position is mistaken. Some testimony about beauty and artistic value can provide a degree of aesthetic justification and, perhaps, even knowledge. That is, there are cases in which one can be justified in making an aesthetic judgment purely on the basis of someone else's testimony. But widespread aesthetic unreliability creates a problem for much aesthetic testimony. Hence, most testimony about art does not have much epistemic value. The situation is somewhat different with respect to aesthetic testimony about nature, proofs, and theories

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Aaron Meskin
University of Georgia

Citations of this work

Autonomy and Aesthetic Engagement.C. Thi Nguyen - 2019 - Mind 129 (516):1127-1156.
The authority of pleasure.Keren Gorodeisky - 2021 - Noûs 55 (1):199-220.
Art as a Shelter from Science.C. Thi Nguyen - 2023 - Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 97 (1):172-201.
Trust and sincerity in art.C. Thi Nguyen - 2021 - Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy 8:21-53.

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References found in this work

Categories of Art.Kendall L. Walton - 1970 - Philosophical Review 79 (3):334-367.
Of the standard of taste.David Hume - 1875 - In Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary. Indianapolis: Liberty Press. pp. 226-249.
On the epistemic value of photographs.Jonathan Cohen & Aaron Meskin - 2004 - Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 62 (2):197–210.
Intention and interpretation: A last look.Jerrold Levinson - 1992 - In Gary Iseminger (ed.), Intention and interpretation. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. pp. 221--56.
Beauty and testimony.Robert Hopkins - 2000 - Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 47:209-236.

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