The Geography of Taste

Abstract

Aesthetic and artistic preferences and practices vary widely between individuals and between cultures. To enjoy flamenco, for example, requires an entirely different cognitive approach and emotional attitude than that required to appreciate Bharatanatyam. In this collaborative work, four philosophers reconceive the philosophy of art and aesthetics by taking aesthetic diversity and cultural specificity, rather than universality, as the starting points of inquiry. Why are aesthetic and artistic responses so diverse? To what extent might they originate in universal human capacities? Can members of one culture enjoy and understand the artistic products of another? Or do they do each other injustice in the attempt? Is diversity a valuable feature of aesthetic and artistic engagement? To model what the turn toward diversity might look like in aesthetic inquiry, each author defends a different account of aesthetic diversity, and all engage in a collective dialogue about these issues.