A theory of aesthetic value should explain what makes aesthetic value good. Current views about what makes aesthetic value good privilege the individual’s encounter with aesthetic value—listening to music, reading a novel, writing a poem, or viewing a painting. What makes aesthetic value good is its benefit to the individual appreciator. But engagement with aesthetic value is often a social, participatory matter: sharing and discussing aesthetic goods, imitating aesthetic agents, dancing, cooking, dining, or making music together. This article argues that we should understand aesthetic value in a way that centers these social forms of aesthetic engagement. To this end, the article argues that there is a social practice of aesthetic valuing, characterized as a participatory practice governed by the value of aesthetic community, which engages us in the social development of our capacities for discretionary valuing and volitional openness. Current theories of aesthetic value have trouble capturing the character of the practice of aesthetic valuing, and this motivates a novel communitarian theory of aesthetic value: aesthetic value is what is worthy of engagement in the social practice of aesthetic valuing.

中文翻译：

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审美价值与审美价值的实践


审美价值理论应该解释什么使审美价值良好。目前对于审美价值的看法优先于个人与审美价值的接触——听音乐、读小说、写诗或观看绘画。审美价值之所以良好，是因为它对个人欣赏者有利。但对审美价值的参与往往是一种社会性、参与性的事情：分享和讨论审美商品、模仿审美主体、一起跳舞、烹饪、用餐或制作音乐。本文认为，我们应该以一种以这些审美参与的社会形式为中心的方式来理解审美价值。为此，本文认为存在一种审美价值的社会实践，其特征是一种受审美共同体价值支配的参与性实践，它使我们参与到我们自由裁量价值和意志开放能力的社会发展中。当前的审美价值理论难以捕捉审美价值实践的特征，这催生了一种新颖的共同体主义审美价值理论：审美价值是值得参与审美价值社会实践的东西。