Abstract
The concept of aesthetic norm represents an integral part of a general theory of the aesthetic by Czech structuralist Jan Mukařovský. Mukařovský had been returning to this subject matter repeatedly throughout his work and had been elaborating his view of aesthetic norm on the background of a general conception of norm as such.
Among other things that Mukařovský paid attention to when pondering upon a general nature of norms he pointed out that each norm changes through its applications. And aesthetic norms represent only an extreme case of this general characteristic of all norms.
The current paper focuses on this particular aspect of Mukařovskýʼs general conception of norm and proposes to view it on the background of the debate concerning the paradox of rule-following that has been going on in the analytic philosophy of language since the beginning of nineteen-eighties. The main source of this debate are Ludwig Wittgensteinʼs remarks on what it means to follow a rule and his treatment of a related problem of the possibility of a private language as presented in his Philosophical Investigations.
The current paper attempts to show that Wittgensteinʼs analysis of the rule-following paradox could be used to extend Mukařovskýʼs remark on the constant change of all norms which in result could lead to a conclusion showing that the domain of aesthetic experience, norms and values is not strictly separated from the non-aesthetic domain.