The Aesthetic Experience: A Philosophical Foundation for Programmes in Public Art Galleries

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between viewers and works of art. An overview of philosophers' statements about the aesthetic experience, based on Stephen Pepper's World Hypothesis Theory, is presented. This overview establishes central questions about the nature as this experience. These are investigated through an examination of the nature of the art obJect, as outlined in the writings 0£ Susanne Langer, and of the aesthetic experience, as delineated by Mikel Dufrenne. The theories of these two philosophers establish the unique nature of the work 0£ art and of the aesthetic experience. This experience is founded upon the expressiveness of the work of art, and the viewer's recognition of that expressiveness through three levels in aesthetic experience: Presence, Reflection and Feeling.