Abstract

Human beings are eager producers and consumers of aesthetic experiences. They are able to reach the highest peaks of beauty and mystic ecstasy, and the deepest abysses of terror and abjection. The word “aesthetic” has the narrow meaning of a pleasant experience of beauty, pleasure of contemplation, or a mode of artistic consumption peculiar to contemporary societies. In this volume, the term “aesthetic” means a form of human experiencing, in which affective, ethical, and cognitive dimensions exist as a totality. I would distinguish “aesthetic” from “reflective”; the latter is a way of producing meaning that poses the process of experiencing itself as an object. However, I do not oppose “aesthetic” to “rational,” as I think the authors in this volume clearly demonstrate that aesthetics are a legitimate form of knowing.