علم الجمال: مقدمة قصيرة جدًّا

Very Short Introductions #616

by Bence Nanay, ياسمين العربي (مترجم), الزهراء سامي (مراجعة)

علم الجمال فرعٌ من فروع الفلسفة يستكشف طبيعةَ الفن، والجمال، والذوق. ولا يقتصر على دراسة الخبرات الفنية التقليدية مثل الأعمال الفنية في المتاحف أو عروض الأوبرا، بل يمتدُّ إلى ما هو أبعدُ بكثير من نطاق الفن، سواء أكان فنًّا راقيًا أم غير راقٍ، ويشمل ذلك الكثيرَ مما نهتمُّ به في حياتنا؛ فيشمل على سبيل المثال تجاربَ الحياة اليومية مثل الاستمتاع بأوراق أشجار الخريف، أو شعورك وأنت تختار ما سترتديه اليوم. من منظور علم الجمال، ما يُسمَّى ﺑ «الفن الراقي» ليس له أيُّ أفضليةٍ جمالية على المسلسلات الهزلية، أو الوشم، أو موسيقى البانك روك. في الواقع، الجمالياتُ في كل مكان من حولنا.

في هذه المقدمة القصيرة جدًّا، يعرِّفنا «بنس ناناي» على مجال علم الجمال، متناوِلًا التقاليدَ الجمالية الغربية وغير الغربية، ومستكشِفًا الأسبابَ وراء صعوبة فَهْمه في بعض الأحيان، أو وراء اعتباره مجالًا شديدَ النُّخْبوية من قِبَل الفنَّانين والموسيقيين وحتى الفلاسفة. كما يوضِّح الكتاب أن علم الجمال ليسَت مهمته أن يخبرك أيُّ الأعمال الفنية جيدة وأيُّها سيئة، ولا أن يخبرك بالتجارب التي تستحقُّ أن تعيشها. إذا رأيتَ أن تجربةً تستحقُّ أن تعيشها، فمن ثَم تصبح موضوعًا لعلم الجمال. وهذا إدراكٌ مهم؛ لأن التفكير في الجماليات بهذه الطريقة الشاملة يفتح طُرقًا جديدة لفَهم الأسئلة القديمة حول الجانب الاجتماعي لتجاربنا الجمالية، وأهمية القِيَم الجمالية لنا. ويُختتَم الكتاب بتحليل بعض الظواهر الجمالية النموذجية التي تتمثَّل في التماهي مع الشخصيات الخيالية والارتباط بها.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Art, Audiobook, Theory, Education, Cultural

120 pages, ebook

Published January 11, 2024

About the author

University of Antwerp, Belgium

Reviews

[Glenn Russell]

A unique approach to aesthetics.

Unique in the sense Bence Nanay's approach to aesthetics is not through the traditional path of philosophy of art - no mention of Plato or Aristotle, Dewey, Croce, Heidegger, Derrida or Danto. True, the author does include a few references to Immanuel Kant and David Hume, but these are simply to underscore his distinctive take on the subject, a perspective revolving around what he terms "aesthetic engagement." As to what more precisely this means, here are a batch of direct quotes from the book along with my observations:

"Engagement with art can be immensely rewarding, but it can also go wrong very easily."

Oh, those damn distractions, to name just a few: a theater lacking heat in winter or air conditioning in summer, someone in the audience chatting nonstop, your health suddenly taking a nose dive just when you clicked into the film or play, an art exhibit so crowded you can barely see the paintings. Tremendously disappointing since, as Bence Nanay states, “Aesthetics is about some special kinds of experience.”

"Aesthetics is sometimes considered to be too elitist - by artists, musicians, even by philosophers. This is based on a misunderstanding of the subject, something this book aims to correct. So-called "high art" has no more claim on aesthetics than sitcoms, tattoos, or punk rock."

So refreshing to know Bence Nanay doesn't take the moral high ground or anything close to a condescending attitude, separating off fine art from popular art, homespun art or outsider art.

"If an experience is worth having for you, it thereby becomes a potential subject of aesthetics."

If you relish everyday things like the taste of your morning coffee, the feel of taking a shower or the sound of rain on your windowpane, those happenings can form the main substance of your open and free engagements with the world - open and free being the two prime qualities that make aesthetic experience special.

"All things can be experienced in an aesthetic manner and some drug-induced experiences, for example, could very much count as aesthetic."

Sex and drugs are not discounted as potential candidates for our open and free encounters; quite the contrary, the intensity and immediacy of having sex or being high on drugs can, if anything, expand our open and free engagement with the world.

"The general thought is that some things are beautiful, others are not. . . . I call this the 'beauty-salon approach' because in cosmetic surgery or the nail business there are fairly clear conceptions of what is beautiful and what is not."

There's good reason Bence Nanay explores the meaning of beauty: a widely held assumption maintains aesthetics is all about beauty in art and in nature. However, when examined more closely, beauty turns out to be more about the perceiver than the object perceived, or stated another way, any object may contain beauty - it's all a matter of how we look at it.

"What you are attending to makes a huge difference to your experience in general. And it also makes a huge difference to your experience of artworks."

Central to aesthetic experience is attention. For example, if we focus our attention exclusively on one small figure in a landscape painting, chances are we will miss the work's overall cohesiveness. Bence Nanay places great emphasis on attention, devoting an entire chapter to the subject.

"Open-ended attention is the mind's downtime and without it life would be tough."

That's open-ended attention as in our luxuriating in a piece of harpsichord music or the taste of a fine wine or walking along the beach as the sun rises - much different than when we are forced to act under pressure.

ALERT TO BOOK REVIEWERS!
"The critic's job is to direct our attention to features we would not have noticed otherwise. Attending to some of these features can completely transform our experience."

According to Bence Nanay, a critic or book reviewer's job is not to summarize the plot, not to connect their childhood memories to the work, not to tell us what they liked or didn't like, not to treat their review as a more artful production than the book/painting/music/film under review.

I hope what I've written here, including about such terms as "open" and "free," such terms demanding more examination, prompts you to read this short introduction for yourself. Who knows, perhaps your approach to art and everyday experience will be in for a major transformation.


Philosopher Bence Nanay

"We spend so much time and money engaging with works of art not because we want to make aesthetic judgements about them. We do it because the experience we have while engaging with works of art can be pleasurable, rewarding, and personally meaningful. Not the judgement - the experience." - Bence Nanay, Aesthetics, A Very Short Introduction

[Chris Lee (away) · Rating 2 out of 5]

According to the dictionary, aesthetics is “the philosophical theory or set of principles governing the idea of beauty at a given time and place.” Couple that definition with the blurb of the book, and you will have your very short introduction. I was hoping this entry in the book series would be as educational as some of the others, but sadly, it’s fairly bland.

It’s a primer for understanding the concept, and it might help build confidence in explaining an experience you had with nature, art, or whatever strikes the fancy, but I was hoping for a more linear history lesson than a few modern examples or fairly obvious conclusions one would arrive at after visiting a museum for the first time or participating in a critique.

Do not take my word for it, though. The book covers the objective (colors, shapes, designs, etc.) and the subjective (individual sensations and how what we see evokes these sensations within us). There might be some tibits to take away.

The author does have a challenge with such a short book. How does one explain a sustained “feeling” or sensory perception that a bit of art (or anything for that matter) conveys on whatever level a person deems pertinent at that moment in time? All of our backgrounds are completely different, and our tastes are wildly different. This is just a personal preference, but choosing sex, drugs, and rock and roll to convey these sustained experiences did not do anything for me. It’s just one chapter, but it’s fairly basic information. It’s not a knock in any shape or form. I know it’s an introductory book, but I feel like most would fill in the aesthetic blanks without even having to read the chapter. :D

Okay, enough rambling. 😆 Hopefully, the next topic in the series will be much more enlightening. Oh! There is already a short introduction on enlightenment. The Enlightenment: A Very Short Introduction Score!

🎵| Soundtrack |🎵
❖ Pixies – Where is my Mind
❖ Katatonia - Decima

⭐ | Rating | ⭐
❖ 2 out of 5 ❖

[Esraa Gibreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25

[نهى · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتاب جيد، أجابني عن أسئلة لم أسألها، ولم يشفني فيما سألت..
في مساحات كثيرة تهت، وفقرات كثيرة كررتها عدة مرات لأفهم ما يريد، وجلست أقول هذه الأفكار كان يمكن أن تصاغ بشكل أوضح وأدق وأشفى، وهذه المعاني كان يصلحها ويصلح لها غير هذه التراكيب المتوهة، وزادت الترجمة السيئة الطين بلا..

لكن رغم ذلك الكتاب mind blowing،
أعجبتني فكرة الحيرة في تعريف الجمال وتقييده وحده، نعم، هذا ما أجده عند الكلام عنه، لا يحد ولا يؤطر، معروف لا يعرف..

فكرة الانتباه وأهميته في التجربة الجمالية، وهو برأي الكاتب أهم عناصر التجربة الجمالية، ومعه حق، وأهمية الانتباه هذه التي بنيت عليها -وهذه ليست في الكتاب 😁- نصائح الفتوكات أن لا تشيري لشريكك على العيب وما لا يرضيك فيك، فغالب الظن أنه لا يراها حتى تلفتي إليها انتباهه، آه ونظرية الروج الأحمر التي يقول أصحابها أن مجرد وضع الحمرة على الشفاه يجذب كل الانتباه إليها فلا تعود عيوب البشرة ظاهرة، تصبح البشرة blurred ومجرد خلفية لهذا اللون الفاقع، والتلاعب على وتر الانتباه هو السر في كثير من ألعاب العقل وحيل التجميل والتسويق..

فكرة ضرورة الجمال واسترخاء النظام الإدراكي كانت معجبة، الانتباه غير المقيد وما يخلفه في الإنسان من راحة، لفتة جميلة..

ربط الخبرة الجمالية بالحرية، كانت التقاطة خطيرة صراحة..

فكرة أن الجمال ضروري من جهة تلبيته حاجتنا للارتباط بالعالم والاندماج معه، من السمات الأساسية للخبرة الجمالية أنها تربط بين سمات المرئي وآثاره علينا وتجربتنا معه، عملية اتصال..

فكرة أن الإدراك شفاف (يريك الشيء فقط)
والخبرة الجمالية مشوبة بتجربتك الشخصية مع الشيء المدرك، أكثر من مجرد إدراك للسمات
(التفاحة حمراء- التفاحة جميلة)

فكرة التعرض غير الواعي وتغيير الذوق، (وهذه مع التواضع للجمال والانتباه أركان الكتاب)، وقد لاحظتها في نفسي مرات، كثرة التماس تنشئ بين الإنسان والشيء الجميل رابطة من الألفة والارتياح تجعله بعد يركن إليه وإلى شبهه، وإن لم يستسغه أول مرة.. وكيف أن النشأة الأولى والهوية والثقافة التي تربى الإنسان في أكنافها تؤثر تأثيرا بليغا في اختياراته كبيرا وفي تفضيلاته، ومعرفتنا هذا السر تبث فينا احتراما لتفضيلات الآخرين المبنية على تجاربهم الأولى وثقافاتهم وبيئاتهم ومحاضنهم، توسع نظرتنا للجمال وتورثنا مزيد احترام لصوره وتنوعه..

فكرة ارتباط الذوق بالهوية أكثر من الأفكار والآراء الشخصية، وتحسس الإنسان من عيبه، حتى تجد المرء يداري أذواقه العجيبة ولا يداري آراءه، فعيب الرأي عنده أهون من عيب الذوق..

الخبرة الجمالية أولى بالعناية من الحكم الجمالي، وأن الخبرة هي الزاد وهي الغذاء وهي الغاية من التعرض للجمال، لا الحكم النهائي، وأن حتى إن لم تخرج بحكم نهائي فلا يعني ذاك أن الخبرة كانت ناقصة أو معيبة.. هذه الفكرة سأظل أرددها على نفسي في كل مرة آكل أكلة حلوة أو أقرأ قصيدة أو أسمع مزيكا أو أنظر في لوحة، أحتاج لتحقيقها إلى يقظة ووعي وانتباه، فيا رب أعني..

وربط ذاك بالمعيارية كان معجبًا، المعيارية تتعلق بالحكم الجمالي، والحكم الجمالي أمر ذاتي، والأمور الذاتية لا تصلح معاييرا في أكثر المساحات..
أنا واقفة هنا، ومخي فيه لغبطة كتيرة..

فكرة أن التعرض للجمال ممتد الأثر على النفس، فيظل الإنسان بعد التجربة الجمالية كزيارة معرض أو حضور حفلة موسيقية مستبصرا للجمال مستشعرا إياه مرمنسا الأشياء من حوله، فلا تقع عينه على شيء لا يرى فيه حسنا.. مش عارفة ليه افتكرت الحبيبة بعد اللقاء وهم جالسين يغنوا: "مش بس أوقاتي بتحلو، دي العيشة والناس والجو" فشوفة وجه حبيبك الجميل بتصبغ الدنيا كلها حولك بالجمال لساعات وأيام بعد انقضاء اللقاء..

فكرة التخمة الفنية هذي مخيفة كمان، أن يصل الإنسان لمكان لا يستطيع فيه أن يعيش التجربة الجمالية ويستمتع بها وينغمس فيها وتعمل الدهشة فيه عملها..

مفهوم التواضع الجمالي هذا جميل،
سواء في فكرة أن أحكامنا الجمالية لا تصلح للتعميم ولا تصلح للمعيارية، باعتبارها متصلة بمنظور ثقافي ضيق ومحدود وخاص، ولأن مساحات الأحكام فيها مساحة لا يستهان بها من الذاتية

أو الفكرة الختامية أن في مساحات جمالية كثيرة سنظل على كراسي الجمهور..

هذي مراجعة ليس فيها من الكتاب شيء، سطر من الكتاب و١٠ مني، دلقة أفكاري اللي اتلعبكت بعده😁

[Nicholas Cabezas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me so long to finish this, but really quite solid a book. Nanay thinks in a very approachable, academically free way, which is refreshing especially as I enter a field I’ve never worked in before. A useful book for anyone interested in art or literature or culture or daily experience.

[Neil R. Coulter · Rating 3 out of 5]

After teaching a topic for a while, I find it helpful to seek a fresh infusion of teaching methods and content, to get an idea of other ways to teach that topic. As I prepare to get my mind back into the subjects I teach in the spring, I’m looking through some VSIs in relevant areas, hopeful that it might bring new energy to my teaching. The first one on the stack: Aesthetics: A Very Short Introduction, by Bence Nanay. I cover aesthetics in two courses, and though I basically know the chronology of the philosophical approach, it continues to be an area that I always feel I’m not presenting as clearly as I ought. This is partly because holding on to the distinction between aesthetics and beauty adds complexity to the explanation of either.

Nanay writes in an engaging, interesting style, very conversational. He gives the reader helpful entry points into thinking about aesthetic contemplation of artistry (including discussion of what exactly qualifies as an object of aesthetic contemplation). The book ends up being a general introductory primer for focused observation and criticism, with good sections and sections that didn’t connect well with me. (So much space in a “very short introduction” given to comparisons between Auric Goldfinger and Donald Trump…)

Overall, I was surprised that Nanay spent so little time discussing the history and development of aesthetics as an area of philosophy. I expected something of the historical progression, from the eighteenth century to the present. This book gives little sense of where aesthetics fits into anything beyond Nanay’s observations and suggestions. For that reason, the book doesn’t help me as I’d hoped, because it omits some of the basic background that I want to share with my students, and what’s left is rather idiosyncratic to the way Nanay teaches. It’s an interesting and quick read, but it wasn’t exactly what I wanted right now.

[Michael Huang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nanay wrote a very approachable little pamphlet about aesthetics — much more so than Hegel’s. Nanay defines an aesthetic experience as one that provides a sustaining pleasure (as opposed to relief pleasure such as quenching thirst), is open-ended (with no fixated attention), and done for its own sake (not an activity for some trophy). Thus, the experience need not be about “high art” and shouldn’t be about judging the art as is often done. The “Western” aesthetic’s focus on judgement is partly due to Hume’s work and partly because it’s communicable. But the experience is so much dependent on the person’s background and what the person attend to. Thus the judgement cannot possibly be absolute or universal. (So true. Just read some of the highly rated books here.)

[Chris Bowley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aesthetics: A Very Short Introduction offers lots of insight into what can make an experience aesthetically pleasing. Though the nature of this can be highly subjective, the author suggests certain forces that may be at play behind the scenes, things such as focus; what is focused on – in a piece of music or a painting for example – can really change the nature of the experience; potential for a better experience if reserving judgment; open-ended experience typically being much more pleasing.

Several difference approaches to aesthetics that are mentioned. Whilst each could be interesting and worth exploring, the author is very clear in which approaches he agrees and disagrees with. An unbiased academic approach this is not, though sources are often used (from a range of fields including surrealists, artists, and philosophers). Often the reader will read such things as ‘this is an approach/idea/phenomenon that I call ____’. Though this personal style is disadvantageous in ways, there are advantages. Bence Nanay is able to draw upon many experiences from his own life as examples to try to explain complex points. He’s also able to narrow down the scope of the book which is nice considering how it’s fairly common for general introductions to overload the reader.

There’s lots of short topics that the reader might not expect but may appreciate such as ‘why people might react differently to the same stimulus’, ‘the feeling of loss when overexposed to stimuli’ or ‘how to approach art produced by very different cultural groups, possibly at different time periods’.

[Sam Spendlove · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, quote Max: "Aesthetics? That's my line." And, in fact, it was; though it definitely wasn't *just* his.

Most of this was very interesting, if only as a nudge towards the actual philosophical mindset of aesthetics (which is what I like the Oxford VSIs for). I think aesthetics isn't a philosophy of discerning beauty it's about attention, specifically what you attend to when encountering certain stimuli (like, but not always, 'art') and when or toward what you have an "aesthetic experience". If I understand that correctly, it's the differentiated experience that represents how you feel when your attention is (in some ways) meaningful as opposed to strictly a tool for moving through the world and surviving.

Second, quote Bence Nanay: "other mere exposure findings are about how input of a certain kind make you like input of that kind more. So seeing many impressionist paintings could make you like another impressionist painting...And this means that the kind of artworks you have seen before deeply influence what kinds of artworks you will like" (page 68).

When Nanay started how aesthetics met with real life I was really into it. Considering the quote specifically, I was thinking about this endlessly before: how did my initial encounters with art I really love decide where my attention was directed? Whatever formed my aesthetic foundations represents my own, individualised aesthetic culture, against which I measure all future aesthetic encounters. The stuff about critics was really interesting as well and (I think) relevant to interdisciplinary over-involvement.

[Rasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

علم الجمال وفلسفة الفن وعلم العلامات
من أعقد جوانب المعرفة التي أحتاج الأطلاع عليها بشدة
لكن أفتقد المدخل الملائم لكل فرع منهم
هذه المقدمة من سلسلة مقدمة قصيرة جدًا الصادرة من دار نشر هنداوي
كانت رائعة، الترجمة كانت سلسة جدًا لموضوع ليس من السهل تبسيطه كما فعل الكاتب بنس ناناي
الكتاب سيوضح للقارئ معنى التجربة الجمالية، والخبرة الجمالية
وكيف أن الخبرة الجمالية أهم من الحكم الجمالي
وكذلك ضرورة حماية النفس من التعرض للملل من تجربة الأشياء كأنها تحدث لأول مرة
ومعنى التعرض المحض الذي نمر به في حياتنا ويؤثر على انطباعتنا وخبراتنا
الكتاب رغم قلة عدد صفحاته لكنه يحتوي على معلومات عن علم الجمال والتجربة الجمالية وجدتها تعتبر مدخلًا جيدًا للتبحر في علم الجمال الواسع

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting perspective on beauty

I wanted an introduction to aesthetics and got a "critical" introduction to it instead. The author definitely has his own take on aesthetics, but it resonated with me, so I enjoyed it quite a lot. Do not expect to get an unbiased theoretical breakdown of the subject. This book is more the author's personal take on the topic. Still quite interesting.

[AC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty boring. But not totally boring...

[Amar Desai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feels a bit ironic rating this given the content, but fuck it we ball.

[meowdeleine]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j...

from glenn russel's review:

"The critic's job is to direct our attention to features we would not have noticed otherwise. Attending to some of these features can completely transform our experience." ---------- According to Bence Nanay, a critic or book reviewer's job is not to summarize the plot, not to connect their childhood memories to the work, not to tell us what they liked or didn't like, not to treat their review as a more artful production than the book/painting/music/film under review."

[Mariam · Rating 3 out of 5]

"No object is so ugly that, under certain conditions of light and shade, or proximity to other things, it will not look beautiful; no object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly. I believe that in every twenty-four hours what is beautiful looks ugly, and what is ugly looks beautiful, once."

Oscar Wilde

[Nathan Goodwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This niche of philosophy is one of particular interest, and though this was quite brief and technical - there were still some interesting points and overall served its purpose in deepening my understanding of the field

[Alfie Grocott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this interesting, and got out of it what I wanted. It offers various ideas about what an aesthetic experience is, and expands on different aspects of these ideas. I found this book to be thought-provoking and well-written with a humorous and self-deprecating voice.

[Austin Weaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Very interesting but largely an opinion piece which I suppose is a necessity in the realm of aesthetics but nevertheless shifts focus on broad principles in favor of opinions about them.

[Henrik Maler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very light introduction. I expected more central terms and concepts. It started well, differentiating the aspects of aesthetic experience, but then became ever less informative. Nanay focuses on a few points, providing many examples, quotes and anecdotes, to bring them home, yet I found these points not to be interesting or surprising enough, but too common-sensical for the time spent on them (e.g. ontogeny, including one's cultural background, and expectations influence one's taste).

Most informative points:
- Aesthetics is about the experience, not about judgment. Knowledge informs our experience and can enhance it. It also leads to different judgments, but the judgment itself is not or should not be central to aesthetic engagement. Most often, the experience is the one that is most rewarding and pleasurable.
- Aesthetic experience includes
-> beauty
-> emotions
-> pleasure
-> a confrontation with the aesthetic object for its own sake
-> attention: either focused or distributed
- The aesthetic experience is made up of three foci:
-> the object
-> the quality of our experience of the object (how the object hits us); “rasa” = savouring of the emotional flavour of our aesthetic experience
-> the relation between the object and the qualities of our experience of it
- Generally, the aesthetic experience is an open-ended process with distributed attention: no specific aim, looking at several features of the same object
- Global aesthetics is more concerned with experience central to aesthetics, less about judgment. The importance of judgment is a Western idea, iniitiated by David Hume, “a historical curiosity”.
- A good critic directs his reader’s attention to features of an aesthetic object he has not seen before.
- “Art changes the way out attend. And this attentional state of mind doesn’t stop just like that. It lingers on.” (p. 75)

[Ryo · Rating 4 out of 5]

當初看到這本，以為內容是在告訴大眾如何去定義美是什麼? 以及介紹一些美學範例，卻和我想像的有落差。基本上作者的想法是，”美”會因人而異，所以它不該有規則，更不會有框架，美學的範疇遠大於那些我們對它的既定印象(EX:博物館內的畫作、劇院裡演奏的古典樂等)，它可以是我們生活中關心的眾多事物，即使是一頓平凡的早餐時光，也能是美。

作者將審美定義為一種持續感到”愉悅”的體驗，是開放式的（沒有固定的注意力），並且是為了自身的目的而做這件事（不是博得眼球或是為了利益），這種體驗不一定會和所謂的”高雅”及”高尚的品味”掛勾，也因此不應涵蓋批判意味。

在這樣的概念下，任何事物都可以看起來很美，雖然這句聽起來很像廢話，但事實上，每個人對於什麼東西是美的、什麼東西是醜的，都有各自的標準，若我們無條件假設大家對於看到一幅畫或是聽到一首歌的感受，都應該要和你有同樣的反應，那麼你可能輕忽了人類的多樣性以及文化背景的多樣性。 這也是本書的宗旨，無論何時，只要我們認為我們所做的任何事代表著普世的價值，就應該停下來好好思考，思考我們每一個人都來自不同的家庭，甚至是不同的國家，看待事物的眼光一定會帶有自己的”立場”和”文化”，所以我們對美學，應保持謙遜的態度，將它當成一種非特定的文化角度出發的評價。

總結：本書前面可能講了很多關於審美體驗和非審美體驗之間差異還有影響我們審美體驗質量的因素等等看起來很哲學的理論，作者鋪陳了那麼久，最主要想表達的只有一件事，對於美學，若能理解並尊重他人的文化，可以讓我們開啟未知的美感體驗。

[Richard Reilly]

Just finished a re-read - liking it better the second time around as a well rounded intro that helps focus attention on important considerations on the subject, including the types of attention one may pay to a given object or experience.

[Xavi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to aesthetics. The author attempts to explain what aesthetics truly is and what it is not. One of the main common mistakes is to limit the concept of aesthetics solely to the sense of sight, and more specifically, to art painting. Along the way, he demystifies and clarifies other related concepts such as beauty, attention, and objectivity. His main thesis — with which I agree — is that aesthetic experiences are far broader than people often think. Even more importantly, they depend more on the subject, the person, rather than the object itself. Therefore, I can experience an aesthetic phenomenon where others find nothing magical at all, and vice versa. It also depends a lot on the moment: what is pleasing at one time might not be at another.

My definition of an aesthetic experience, after reading the book, is that it is an immersive and pleasing experience where you feel absorbed by the moment and very free to move around within it (certainly, very closely related to psychology's concept of flow state). Therefore, everything is subjected to become an aesthetic experience. For example, in my case, practising sport becomes many times an aesthetic experience.

Considering the brevity of the book, the author does a very good job. The only point I don't fully agree with is his extreme relativism applied to the object: that there is nothing aesthetic in itself. I partially disagree. It is true that the appreciation of something is highly subject-dependent, but at the same time, I believe that there are things that are beautiful to most of us, which leads me to say that there is an inherent beauty in certain things.

This is the first book I've read from this Oxford collection, but I'm sure that in the future I will read more. It allows you to delve into a topic with a minimal time investment but, at the same time, provides a broad and systematic view of the subject, and most importantly, with rigor.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this very interesting. I learnt about the difference between aesthetic experience and aesthetic judgement. That "Western" aesthetics has prioritized aesthetic judgement, but this is a peculiarity of the Western world, while the rest of global aesthetics prioritizes aesthetic experience.

I learnt that from the perspective of promoting aesthetic experience, the only kind of helpful critique is one that helps you notice features of an artefact you may not have noticed, thereby coming to a better appreciation. Judgement on an artefact don't help promote better appreciation.

He says that "We spend so much time and money engaging with works of art not because we want to make aesthetic judgements about them. We do it because the experience we have while engaging with works of art can be pleasurable, rewarding, and personally meaningful. Not the judgement-the experience.

We should try to move away from the concept of aesthetic judgement in general-whether or not it is well informed. The aim of aesthetic engagement with an artwork is very rarely to come up with an aesthetic judgement and our aesthetic theory should respect this fact. We should focus on the temporal unfolding of our aesthetic experience and not on the (clearly optional) end point of pronouncing aesthetic judgements. As Susan Sontag said: 'A work of art encountered as a work of art is an experience, not a statement or an answer to a question." (53)

[Sebastian Winter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the author is confused. He starts by criticising most of aesthetics as too elitist.

Then he goes through an interesting, if elementary, exploration of the difference between aesthetic judgement and aesthetic experience - where he presents a few fundamental misunderstandings of Kant’s idea of Judgement, that aside, the few chapters dedicated to it had a few interesting points.

He then concludes aesthetics is about awareness, which is an interesting take, but then contrasts his stance on awareness as fundamentally different to Stoic, Buddhist, and Mindfulness interpretations of the topic, before giving exactly the same concept of awareness and attention as most major members of those groups provided.

Then concludes the book by saying we cannot truly appreciate any artefact (as he refutes the term art) if we are not from its original culture.

This last point is where I think Bence Nanay is truly confusing himself, as this is an even more elitist stance than the one he set out to refute at the beginning.

A quite poor addition to both this introductory book series and to the field of aesthetic thought, sadly.

[e.h.d · Rating 3 out of 5]

i ended up listening to the audiobook 3 times lol. bence nanay's sense of humour (characterized by occasional self-aware jabs at his own pretentiousness) annoyed me a bit at first, but it slowly grew on me after i realized his analogies were creative and funny enough to make me laugh here and there. i shall begrudgingly admit that his pretentious self-deprecatingness became slightly charming. the book has personality. its very much skewed towards his subjective view on aesthetics, but his approach was exactly what i was looking for-- addressing how to interact with "high" art (painting, music, film) as well as experiences in every day life, while referencing a bit of philosophy and more recent psychology. not much on history or past theories of aesthetics, so not a good one if you're looking for a more foundational objective overview. but if you're looking for some answers in regards to how to engage with art, this is a great light read. i have been questioning and trying to understand (or form my own definition of) the point of art criticism, and this provided some nice clues.

[Jeff Liu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Topics in this book include: theories about the difference between aesthetic experiences and non-aesthetic experiences, what influences the quality of our aesthetic experiences, the fixation on "objective" aesthetic judgements in the West, and the differences between Western and non-Western aesthetics.

Given the topic of the book, I found the numerous references to pop culture media to be appropriately engaging. Even if you aren't familiar with all of the media referenced in this book, Nanay does a good job explaining their relevance to the point he is making.

Nanay writes from a culturally relativistic perspective. He makes it pretty clear that he doesn't believe there are any objectively correct ways to judgements and experiences when it comes to aesthetics. So the book might come across as biased in that regard.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading some philosophy on aesthetics, it was refreshing to read someone talk about it in a very straightforward way. I enjoyed the emphasis on aesthetics as an experience rather than simple aesthetic criticism. It actually made me want to change the way I consume literature a bit--maybe instead of thinking about how I would evaluate the book the whole time I'm reading it, I should try to enjoy it? Radical, I know.

I was a little surprised to see the inclusion of topics related to aesthetics outside of philosophy, like how we perceive our taste in music as a big part of our personality (but the majority of it is simply what we grew up listening to). It was still interesting, but I was reading it for the summary of aesthetic philosophy, which I wish had been a little more detailed.

[riley shay · Rating 4 out of 5]

very enjoyable and easy to read. some nice pictures interspersed throughout and i liked the use of personal anecdotes to add a then/now element of how opinions change over time, and how generational differences can have an effect on aesthetic preferences. the reason i have this at 4 stars and not 5 is just that there was no groundbreaking realization made, and most of it was intuitive to me, which i think most would agree with. i think this is, like the title says, a VERY SHORT introduction, which is approached almost more as a discussion than an academically inclined book. i still enjoyed it a lot and it’s a nice one to get the gears in your brain churning about your own aesthetic preferences:)

[Bakknari · Rating 1 out of 5]

After a sincere attempt to finish the book, I am simply unable to do so. The book is boring and bland, and covers so little of the history of aesthetics within philosophy. He seems to write in incomplete thoughts. Eventually, it felt like simply reading words with no meaning. His attempt at using "sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll" in one chapter was entirely hollow. And another specific example of nonsense: he attempted to say "Psychologists make a distinction between two kinds of pleasure", which he referred to as "relief pleasure" and "sustaining pleasure." I am a psychologist. These are absolutely not distinctions that we make. It is far more complicated than this. This book was a waste of my time.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of essays on aesthetics, the author tries to define it and proposes that aesthetics should be defined in the context of viewer attention, but there's not much support to his argument. Some good information about how our perception of aesthetics arises from our culture and experiences in youth, our prior exposure, but overall not seeing how each chapter ties together into a cohesive introduction of aesthetics. notable quotes "Aesthetic experiences can make us ditch our preconceived way of making sense of what we see." "Art.. can make you see things as if you were looking at them for the very first time." These are about the two takeaways from the book.
Not recommended.