Abstract

Lending support to an institutional theory of the aesthetic, qualities attributed to artworks like "fine," "elegant," and "great" seem to be rooted in social maneuvers and distinctions rather than in the forms presented by the works or in a suitably detached apprehension of those forms. But a specially rewarding virtual indwelling of a form, an enhancement of the indwelling of one's body, lies at the heart of aesthetic experience, and generally habitation in aesthetic form is cohabitation; we find rewarding ways of being together in our aesthetic attention to form. Thus conspicuously social qualities like "great" can also be aesthetic qualities on a par with Beardsleyan A-qualities like "vivid," and A-qualities normally resonate with social qualities as well (as aesthetic vividness is convivial).