Fisher, Ch 3: Concept of Aes Value

• Dis aes value and historical value; aes value and functional value



• Historical value
• Properties that make artifact historically imp
• E.g., works of art tell us about society in which made



• Art-Historical value: Historical interest from per of history of art
• Facts about artwork that gives it scholarly interest and thus historical importance justifies preserving and studying it
• Fame, popularity
• E.g., Mona Lisa "surely no greater (in aes value) than a hundred of other paintings by Leonardo, yet more famous"
• Influence/impact on later artists
• E.g., Beethoven symphonies (9^th and last done in 1824) dominated thinking of most 19^th century composers
• Originality
• 20^th century verbal experiments of James Joyce
• Work could have all three and lack aes value
• Could be popular or influence for wrong reasons (not aes value)
• Could be unpopular in its time and great aes value (work of Bach neither popular nor influential, but incredible musical insight and genius)
• Could even be original and low aes value
• The first symphonies not great as symphonies
• First opera Dafne historically important but not a great opera



• Nature of Aes Value
• Whatever value artwork has in itself
• Problem with intrinsic value ruling out relational value
• Whatever value comes from normal app of work of art (e.g., listening to music, reading novel, etc.)
• From who doing this?
• Aes value founded on direct experience of the artwork; Unlike historical kn (facts about art)
• This does make it subjective in a sense
• Not saying can properly respond to art w/o great deal of historical knowledge
• Aes value that value that fundamentally justifies art



• Functional value of much art
• Art important because of the useful function it served.
• Question: Now that these works no longer fulfill original function do we correctly understand them?
• E.G.: Religions function of most 15^th century paintings; they are religious pictures
• For spectator then best picture were ones that most effectively conveyed religious themes
• Is the aes value that comes in our exp of art be the same aes value as encountered by earlier appreciators?
• (Sometimes yes, sometimes no)
• Contemporary appreciators can find aes value in works that were meant to be app in a very dif way.
• Bach's Passion had religious sig at time but wows listeners now as much as back then and for dif reasons

• BENTHAM'S VIEW THAT AES VALUE IS JUST PLEASURE
• Fisher takes it as a kind of skepticism about aes value
• Bentham's prejudice aside, pushpin is of equal value with music and poetry
• For Bentham, aes value is pleasure it gives appreciator and if pinball gives someone as much pleasure, then its as valuable as art (and in the same way?)
• Essentially his view is that pleasure is the only intrinsic value and if art has IV its value must be pleasure.
• Mill tried to develop notion of higher and lower pleasure
• If art's value is pleasure, then can't elevate it above the other enjoyments (TV, football)

• Putnam's view of value of art: Art enlarges out capacity to experience the world
• Exp of great art has after effects, enlarges the imagination and sensibility enlargement of our repertoire of images and metaphors and integration of them with mundane perceptions/attitudes
• Someone else suggests art gives "life enhancement" to the spectator
• Why isn't this a functional value?
• Fisher says this view entails that art has truth and meaning other things don't have
• Fisher says that Putnam's view takes art as representational ("mimetic theory")
• Thus doesn't work well for music and other nonrep arts forms.