In a message dated 12/28/13 12:48:00 PM, [email protected] writes:
> Cheerskep's wish to limit the quest for understanding aesthetic > experience to > something akin to sexual orgasm suggest to me a simple desire for more > sex. > I've never on this forum tried to LIMIT the quest for understanding; I claim that with my repeated urging of listers to examine the feeling occasioned by "art" has been an attempt to EXPAND the quest. This forum has for years talked about many interesting topics in aesthetics, but, for me, this aesthetic ecstasy has been a mystery at the heart of "art", and I've always thought we ought to look into it. William writes further: "I wonder if the people who actually make art - being so engaged in the process, etc., don't have the 'orgasm' Cheerskep considers the proof of aesthetic experience because they must maintain distance. Wc" William touches on something interesting here. But my guess as to why the creative artist is not in a constant state of aesthetic ecstasy is that they CAN'T maintain the distance required. The working artist is for most of his work day like a highly skilled craftsman -- say, an architect who's also the construction engineer responsible for building the whole "beautiful" structure. The engineer may have at the back of his mind a vision of the completed work, but at any given moment he's likely to be inside a dark shaft trying to figure out how to use this elevator shaft as also the conduit for electrical wiring and air-condition pipes. It's hard to thrill to the gorgeous total-building design at moments like that. Even so, many working artists get occasional jolts of exultation as they solve today's demand for a certain effect right here. I'd also respond to William that I think he has it wrong when he says "Cheerskep considers [the orgasm-like aesthetic ecstasy to be] the PROOF of aesthetic experience". I can't be sure what William has in mind with 'proof' there. I don't think of experiencing a taste-delight as "proving" that one was hungry or even had an appetite. It may be thought of as proving something about the taste buds or the pleasing quality of the food consumed. Which, if we think about it, may be an exact comparison to what I've been asking all along: What is going on when someone has an a.e.? Rephrased: What does one's having an a.e. prove? William has asserted he never uses "ad hominem" in his posting. I think he often does. It should be beneath him to laugh off my aesthetic quest as simply a manifestation of a desire for more sex. Beware of disdain, William. It's the first resort of the baffled.
