Aesthetics and the Everyday

Abstract

In this chapter I provide the foundations for our understanding of aesthetics. I do not intend to provide an exhaustive literature review here for I am not satisfied with how this literature has generally developed. However, in the interests of providing a foundation to our discussion, I do attempt to introduce and discuss my understanding of the main features and developments of the aesthetics literature. However, a fundamental feature for me in this chapter, is the emphasis on the positive features of aesthetics—the beautiful, the sublime etc. For me, attention to these features represent only a partial understanding of aesthetics and that in order to provide a more persuasive balance to appreciate our emotive responses then we need also to value the negative, that is, the grotesque and the ugly. I also introduce in this chapter the everyday and discuss its characteristics with regards to aesthetics. The chapter concludes with a brief overview of the importance for an international perspective of aesthetics.