Cognition, Affectivity, Temporality: The Aesthetic Experience in Jean-Marie Schaeffer

Abstract

This paper presents a critical analysis of Jean-Marie Schaeffer’s conception of the aesthetic experience. The philosopher considers that aesthetics is a relational property and that it involves an interaction between cognitive and affective elements. Furthermore, he affirms that the affective implies both a hedonic calculation and an emotional implication. The main objective is to show three different levels in which affectivity defines, prefigures and conditions aesthetically oriented attention. Secondary, the various theories that Schaeffer uses to ground his own are pointed out, and it is argued that the accumulated experiences, especially the negative ones, constrain the range of potential aesthetic encounters.