
Contents
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Introduction Introduction
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Aesthetic Objects Aesthetic Objects
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Aesthetic Agents Aesthetic Agents
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Aesthetic Objects and Well-Being Aesthetic Objects and Well-Being
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What It Means to Be Both Aesthetic Agent and Aesthetic Object What It Means to Be Both Aesthetic Agent and Aesthetic Object
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Aesthetic Agency and Bodily Experience Aesthetic Agency and Bodily Experience
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Aesthetics, Well-Being, and Mutual Vulnerability Aesthetics, Well-Being, and Mutual Vulnerability
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Acknowledgements Acknowledgements
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Notes Notes
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References References
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12 On the Well-Being of Aesthetic Beings
Get accessProfessor Sherri Irvin, University of Oklahoma, USA
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Published:16 August 2023
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Abstract
As aesthetic beings, we are receptive to and engaged with the sensuous phenomena of life while also knowing that we are targets of others’ awareness: we are both aesthetic agents and aesthetic objects. Our psychological health, our standing within our communities, and our overall well-being can be profoundly affected by our aesthetic surroundings and by whether and how we receive aesthetic recognition from others. When our embodied selves and our cultural products are valued, and when we have rich opportunities for aesthetic experience and for the exercise of aesthetic agency, the aesthetic can foster and sustain well-being and help to make our lives worthwhile. But when we are subjected to aesthetic blight, restriction of our aesthetic agency, and aesthetic devaluing of our embodied selves and our communities’ cultural products, the aesthetic can do great harm: such aesthetic manoeuvres play a significant role in oppression and social hierarchy related to race, gender, fatness, and disability. This essay explores the notions of aesthetic objects and aesthetic agents, their relations with each other, and the unique affordances of persons’ status as simultaneously aesthetic objects and aesthetic agents. It examines the prospects for bodily aesthetic experience to promote well-being and, at the end, considers how the aesthetic might play a role in establishing forms of mutual vulnerability and recognition to combat oppressive social hierarchies.
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