Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2014
Abstract
The article takes an issue with the seminal essay of Frank Sibley ("Aesthetic Concepts") according to which aesthetic expressions are not governed by conditions in the sense that no sufficient conditions formulated in non-aesthetic terms can ever govern their use. From this it follows that aesthetic judgements cannot be justified.
I argue that Sibley's thesis is true about positive aesthetic concepts (like 'beautiful') but fails to apply to the negative ones (like 'ugly'). I defend this claim against various arguments that were presented in print and explain the consequences of this asymmetry.