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Aesthetic Knowledge

Expected online publication date:  27 October 2025

Jon Robson
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham

Summary

How do we arrive at aesthetic knowledge? This might seem an odd question for philosophers to ask. Some will take its answer to be obvious: we learn about the aesthetic qualities of paintings by looking at them, of musical works by listening to them, and so on. Others will take the question to be misguided, how can there be aesthetic knowledge when aesthetics is merely 'a matter of taste'? Finally, aesthetic knowledge itself might seem singularly unimportant. We don't engage with beautiful artworks to learn that they're beautiful but, rather, to appreciate that beauty. This Element argues that each of these objections is misplaced. Aesthetic knowledge is both valuable and attainable, but canonical philosophical (and folk) views of how we attain it are mistaken. The Element surveys some recent arguments against the reliability of aesthetic perception and in favour of other, more social, sources of aesthetic knowledge.

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Element
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Online ISBN: 9781009358521
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Accessibility standard: Unknown

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Aesthetic Knowledge
  • Jon Robson, University of Nottingham
  • Online ISBN: 9781009358521
Available formats No formats are currently available for this content.
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Aesthetic Knowledge
  • Jon Robson, University of Nottingham
  • Online ISBN: 9781009358521
Available formats No formats are currently available for this content.
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Aesthetic Knowledge
  • Jon Robson, University of Nottingham
  • Online ISBN: 9781009358521
Available formats No formats are currently available for this content.
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