Abstract

This dissertation addresses basic questions in aesthetics through the application of a cognitive model, the genetic epistemology of Jean Piaget. What characterizes a work of art and how does it function within aesthetic experience? What, indeed, is aesthetic experience? How does the artist create and how can we judge the resulting work of art? These perennial questions continually provoke new responses. At the same time, the living world of art challenges us to hear, see, and understand in new ways. In this work we have taken up the challenge of explanation. Our method is the employment of a creative theory of cognitive response in the analysis of the aesthetic response. ;In Chapter One we set out the problematic issues and introduce Jean Piaget, the psychologist and genetic epistemologist, whose theories we will be using. We also consider the meaning of "cognitive modeling" and discuss how his theory will function in our development of an aesthetic theory. ;Chapter Two presents Piaget's theory of cognition. We study its own origin in biological modeling and the various components as Piaget presents them throughout his works. We review the nature of knowledge in both its cognitive and figurative aspects. The famous stage theory of cognitive development is also considered. The chapter closes with a discussion about the appropriateness of our own project within a Piagetian methodology. ;The third chapter opens with a review of some previous work in the area of Piaget and aesthetics. The development of the aesthetics then commences where we discuss the nature of the work of art and the aesthetic object. Using Piaget's definition of a structure we approach the work of art and seek to analyze its characteristic components. In considering the nature of the aesthetic object we are led to the experience of the subject and thus explore the nature of his experience as aesthetic. Here Piaget's interactive theory of knowledge becomes a valuable tool in the analysis of the aesthetic experience. The chapter closes with a specific application of our findings to three works of art: Vermeer's painting, Woman with Scales, Schubert's lied, "Auf dem Wasser zu singen," and Strauss' final trio from the opera Der RosenKavalier. ;Chapter Four involves us in a shift of focus from the audience to the artist and to the critic. We first discuss the nature of artistic creativity as modeled upon the cognitive theory. Included here is a consideration of the role of the performer as a living intermediary between creator and audience. Finally we develop a theory of art criticism which seeks to ground objective statements about works of art in the nature of the work of art and the quality of the ensuing aesthetic experience. As an exercise in criticism we consider two works by Piet Mondrian and a canon by the fourteenth century composer, Guillaume de Machaut. ;In the final chapter we evaluate our project, both as an attempt to fruitfully employ a cognitive model and as an aesthetic theory. The creative interplay between model and modeled is thereby highlighted. We here attempt to respond to potential challenges to the theory