The Role of Expertise in Aesthetic Appreciation

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Expertise in the understanding of art, music, or film structure can influence our aesthetic appreciation by shifting our focus from pure emotion to technical analysis. A deeper understanding may lead to a loss of innocence as we become aware of specific techniques and structures within the art forms, which can alter our emotional response and create a more critical appreciation of the work.

David and Tamler are back for the new year and one of our resolutions was to do more episodes on William James. Today we talk about his account of ‘Attention’ from his 1890 volume The Principles of Psychology – another remarkably prescient chapter that still feels more than relevant today. What is attention and how does it function in the mind? What accounts for the different ways that we attend to things? Does attention help to shape or construct our reality? What is attention’s connection to the will? Does James anticipate predictive coding theory?

Plus we discuss the removal of the head of a renowned university for reasons that have nothing to do with the mission of higher learning.

Episode Links

Chancellor of University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Fired [nbc.com]

William James chapter on Attention from Principles of Psychology (1890) [yorku.ca]