Everyday Aesthetics

by Saito, Yuriko

• ISBN13: 9780199278350
• ISBN10: 0199278350
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-04-15
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Everyday aesthetic experiences and concerns occupy a large part of our aesthetic life. However, because of their prevalence and mundane nature, we tend not to pay much attention to them, let alone examine their significance. Western aesthetic theories of the past few centuries also neglect everyday aesthetics because of their almost exclusive emphasis on art. In a ground-breaking new study, Yuriko Saito provides a detailed investigation into our everyday aesthetic experiences, and reveals how our everyday aesthetic tastes and judgments can exert a powerful influence on the state of the world and our quality of life. By analyzing a wide range of examples from our aesthetic interactions with nature, the environment, everyday objects, and Japanese culture, Saito illustrates the complex nature of seemingly simple and innocuous aesthetic responses. She discusses the inadequacy of art-centered aesthetics, the aesthetic appreciation of the distinctive characters of objects or phenomena, responses to various manifestations of transience, and the aesthetic expression of moral values; and she examines the moral, political, existential, and environmental implications of these and other issues.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Neglect of Everyday Aesthetics	p. 9
Art-centered aesthetics	p. 13
Art as the model for aesthetic object	p. 13
Characteristics of paradigmatic art	p. 18
Expanded scope of art-centered aesthetics	p. 28
Special experience-based aesthetics	p. 43
Aesthetic attitude and aesthetic experience	p. 43
Limitation of special experience-based aesthetics	p. 45
Everyday life ordinarily experienced	p. 48
Significance of Everyday Aesthetics	p. 54
The environmental significance of everyday aesthetics	p. 58
Natural creatures	p. 58
Landscape	p. 61
Built environment and consumer goods	p. 65
Green aesthetics	p. 69
The power of the aesthetic	p. 69
Landscape aesthetic in the United States	p. 72
Green aesthetics-nature	p. 77
Green aesthetics-artifacts	p. 84
Limits of green aesthetics?	p. 96
Aesthetics of Distinctive Characteristics and Ambience	p. 104
Aesthetics of distinctive characteristics	p. 105
Eighteenth-century European aesthetics	p. 105
Aesthetics of the rare and the uncommon	p. 108
Examples from the Japanese aesthetic tradition	p. 111
"Truth to materials"	p. 117
Aesthetics of ambience	p. 119
Creation of ambience	p. 119
Japanese aesthetic appreciation of ambience	p. 124
Ramifications of the aesthetics of distinctive characteristics and ambience	p. 129
Expansion of aesthetic horizon	p. 129
Humility among designers and artists	p. 133
Limitations on the aesthetics of ambience	p. 138
Everyday Aesthetic Qualities and Transience	p. 149
"Clean," "dirty," "neat," "messy," "organized," "disorganized"	p. 152
Neglect of everyday aesthetic qualities	p. 152
Construction of everyday aesthetic qualities	p. 154
Relevance of functionality	p. 159
Reflection of personal character and moral values	p. 160
Positive value of disorder	p. 164
Appearance of aging	p. 173
Sensuous qualities of aged surface	p. 173
Associationist accounts of the aged appearance	p. 179
Aestheticization of transience	p. 184
Limitations on aestheticizing transience	p. 190
Moral-Aesthetic Judgments of Artifacts	p. 205
Moral-aesthetic judgments	p. 207
Examples from contemporary aesthetic and design discourses	p. 213
Propriety of personal appearance	p. 213
Environmental eyesore	p. 214
Designing for special needs	p. 219
Design responsive to bodily experience	p. 221
Design sensitivity to the temporal dimension of experience	p. 226
Japanese spatial design	p. 227
Japanese food serving	p. 229
Japanese package design	p. 232
Aesthetic expression of moral virtues	p. 234
The significance of moral-aesthetic judgments in everyday life	p. 238
	p. 243
Bibliography	p. 253
Index	p. 269
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