Irene Martinez Marin: "Aesthetic Coherence and Why it Matters"

Irene Martinez Marin, Uppsala University: "Aesthetic Coherence and Why it Matters"

Abstract
This paper examines the normative significance of aesthetic coherence. While philosophers have extensively studied coherence requirements in the practical and theoretical domains, parallel questions in aesthetics remain largely unexplored. I distinguish between two forms of intrapersonal aesthetic coherence: taste consistency and attitudinal coherence. I argue that prominent accounts of taste consistency, whether focused on unified aesthetic personality (Cohen, 1998) or art-focused ethical principles (John, 2023), fail to explain why such coherence has distinctively aesthetic normative force. In contrast, I develop a respect-based account of attitudinal coherence that grounds its normativity in our relationship to aesthetic value itself. When we judge something to be aesthetically valuable but fail to like it, we manifest a dual form of disrespect—toward the aesthetic value we recognise and toward ourselves as aesthetic agents, thereby compromising our aesthetic integrity. This approach illuminates why aesthetic coherence matters, connecting it to our capacity for properly relating to aesthetic value. I address several objections and conclude by suggesting that aesthetic respect provides a substantive foundation for understanding the demands of aesthetic coherence.