Maarten Steenhagen: "Aesthetics and Knowledge by Acquaintance"

Maarten Steenhagen, Uppsala universitet: "Aesthetics and Knowledge by Acquaintance"

Abstract
In 1969 Paul Hayner wrote that what has often been called aesthetic experience can be quite properly viewed as knowledge by acquaintance. But can it? In this paper I trace the early history of the concept of acquaintance, and show how from the outset it indeed closely parallels an at that time prevalent cognitivist conception of aesthetic experience. I suggest that viewing aesthetic experience as knowledge by acquaintance can help us to form a clear idea of what philosophical aesthetics is fundamentally about.