Breakout

Abstract

Three accounts of why aesthetic life matters—the achievement account, the individuality-in-community account, and the venture account—have different implications. Some of their implications touch on hot-button issues. Aesthetic life involves disagreement. What is its point? Many believe that aesthetic reactions are subjective. In what sense is that true, if it is true? Can we escape ethnocentrism in our thinking about aesthetic engagement? Why do aesthetic practices change as rapidly as they do? Are they fads? Is rapid change a problem? How should we respond to the ideological function of aesthetic life, especially in discriminatory and damaging ideals of bodily beauty?