These three images show Mona Lisa's smile
filtered to show selectively lowest (left) low (middle) and high (right)
spatial frequencies
indicating that we see her smile only via
peripheral vision. Margaret Livingstone,
Science, 290, 1299.
Aesthetics and Cognitive
Science
CSTD
361a (PC)
College
Seminar, Timothy Dwight, Fall 2003
Monday, 3:30 – 5:20, Room FENCE 02B
An examination of the issues surrounding attempts to explain aesthetic experience by reference to the natural psychological processes subserving perception and cognition. The aim of the course is to investigate what role psychology can play in an explanation of art and aesthetic experiences. The first part of the course introduces issues surrounding any attempt to naturalize aesthetics: what is an aesthetic experience?; how do aesthetic judgments differ from ordinary perceptual judgments?; what is the role of an artwork in an aesthetic experience?; how does the choice of a theory of art shape a theory of aesthetic experience?; what does it mean to 'naturalize' aesthetics? The second part of the course examines the role an understanding of the perceptual relationship between viewers and works of visual art can play in an explanation of the aesthetic experiences we associate with art in general. This section investigates the general methodology underlying the study of aesthetics and cognitive science, the application of current theories of perception to an understanding of aesthetic experiences, and whether these studies reveal limitations to the project of naturalizing aesthetics.