Martindale, C (2007). "Recent trends in the psychological study of aesthetics, creativity, and the arts". Empirical Studies of the Arts. 25 (2): 121–141. doi: 10.2190/b637-1041-2635-16nn. S2CID 143506308.

More recently, philosophers—distrustful of Kant’s theory of the faculties—have tried to express the notions of an “aesthetic attitude” and “aesthetic experience” in other ways, relying upon developments in philosophical psychology that owe much to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, the phenomenologists, and Ludwig Wittgenstein (more precisely, the Wittgenstein of the Philosophical Investigations [1953]). In considering these theories (some of which are discussed below), a crucial distinction must be borne in mind: that between philosophy of mind and empirical psychology. Philosophy is not a science, because it does not investigate the causes of phenomena. It is an a priori or conceptual investigation, the underlying concern of which is to identify rather than to explain. In effect, the aim of the philosopher is to give the broadest possible description of the things themselves, so as to show how we must understand them and how we ought to value them. The two most prominent current philosophical methods—phenomenology and conceptual analysis—tend to regard this aim as distinct from, and (at least in part) prior to, the aim of science. For how can we begin to explain what we have yet to identify? While there have been empirical studies of aesthetic experience (exercises in the psychology of beauty), these form no part of aesthetics as considered in this article. Indeed, the remarkable paucity of their conclusions may reasonably be attributed to their attempt to provide a theory of phenomena that have yet to be properly defined. Conversely, being very unattractive increases the individual's propensity for criminal activity for a number of crimes ranging from burglary to theft to selling illicit drugs. [133] Artists such as Thomas Hirschhorn have indicated that there are too many exceptions to Dutton's categories. For example, Hirschhorn's installations deliberately eschew technical virtuosity. People can appreciate a Renaissance Madonna for aesthetic reasons, but such objects often had (and sometimes still have) specific devotional functions. "Rules of composition" that might be read into Duchamp's Fountain or John Cage's 4′33″ do not locate the works in a recognizable style (or certainly not a style recognizable at the time of the works' realization). Moreover, some of Dutton's categories seem too broad: a physicist might entertain hypothetical worlds in his/her imagination in the course of formulating a theory. Another problem is that Dutton's categories seek to universalize traditional European notions of aesthetics and art forgetting that, as André Malraux and others have pointed out, there have been large numbers of cultures in which such ideas (including the idea "art" itself) were non-existent. [33] Aesthetic ethics [ edit ]

During the first half of the twentieth century, a significant shift to general aesthetic theory took place which attempted to apply aesthetic theory between various forms of art, including the literary arts and the visual arts, to each other. This resulted in the rise of the New Criticism school and debate concerning the intentional fallacy. At issue was the question of whether the aesthetic intentions of the artist in creating the work of art, whatever its specific form, should be associated with the criticism and evaluation of the final product of the work of art, or, if the work of art should be evaluated on its own merits independent of the intentions of the artist. John M. Valentine, Beginning Aesthetics: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Art. McGraw-Hill, 2006. ISBN 978-0073537542 Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, one of the major branches of philosophy. [3] [4] Beauty is usually categorized as an aesthetic property besides other properties, like grace, elegance or the sublime. [5] [6] [7] As a positive aesthetic value, beauty is contrasted with ugliness as its negative counterpart. Beauty is often listed as one of the three fundamental concepts of human understanding besides truth and goodness. [5] [8] [6] a b "Beauty in Aesthetics". Encyclopedia.com. Archived from the original on January 13, 2022 . Retrieved February 9, 2021.

Doran, Robert (2017). The Theory of the Sublime from Longinus to Kant. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 144. ISBN 1107499151. Natalia Lidova (1994). Drama and Ritual of Early Hinduism. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-8120812345.In the Romantic period, Edmund Burke postulated a difference between beauty in its classical meaning and the sublime. [58] The concept of the sublime, as explicated by Burke and Kant, suggested viewing Gothic art and architecture, though not in accordance with the classical standard of beauty, as sublime. [59] The characterization of a person as "beautiful", whether on an individual basis or by community consensus, is often [ how often?] based on some combination of inner beauty, which includes psychological factors such as personality, intelligence, grace, politeness, charisma, integrity, congruence and elegance, and outer beauty (i.e. physical attractiveness) which includes physical attributes which are valued on an aesthetic basis. [ citation needed] a b Hammoud, Riad (2007). Interactive Video: Algorithms and Technologies. Berlin: Springer Science & Business Media. p.162. ISBN 978-3540332145. a b Chio, Cecilia Di; Brabazon, Anthony; Ebner, Marc; Farooq, Muddassar; Fink, Andreas; Grahl, Jörn; Greenfield, Gary; Machado, Penousal; O'Neill, Michael (2010). Applications of Evolutionary Computation: EvoApplications 2010: EvoCOMNET, EvoENVIRONMENT, EvoFIN, EvoMUSART, and EvoTRANSLOG, Istanbul, Turkey, April 7–9, 2010, Proceedings. Berlin: Springer Science & Business Media. p.302. ISBN 978-3642122415.