JoLMA The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts

Journal | JoLMA
Monographic journal issue | 1 | 2 | 2020
Research Article | 4E Cognition and the Spectrum of Aesthetic Experience

4E Cognition and the Spectrum of Aesthetic Experience

Abstract

We review 4E (embodied, embedded, extended and enactive) approaches to the analysis of art and aesthetic experience. We argue that extended mind analyses that focus on tool use miss important aspects, and that it requires 4 or more E’s to address the broad spectrum of aesthetic experiences that correlate to the broad variety of artistic genres. We develop an enactive, affordance-based approach to understanding art and aesthetic experience. Considering both the potential and the limitations of any particular approach, we argue that there is no one unified set of principles that will make sense of all art everywhere.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: July 13, 2020 | Accepted: July 17, 2020 | Published Dec. 9, 2020 | Language: en

Keywords Art Extended Mind Aesthetic Experience Affordance Enactivism


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