Perspectives critiques sur la laideur : possibilités esthétiques et artistiques
This research is an attempt at redefining the aesthetical and artistical issues related to the progressive « liberation » of ugliness from the classical paradigms of modern aesthetics. The emancipation of ugliness is foremost one from traditional art philosophy, in which ugliness is usually reduced to the mere absence of beauty. Even nowadays their remains some difficulties to consider ugliness in art from an aesthetical point of view. However, it must be made clear that the present paper is not suggesting that ugliness cannot be « unaesthetic »  – it surely can be. Therefore, this paper is to be understood as an exploration of the various possibilities related to the concept of ugliness, one of which is its participation in a full-fledged aesthetic experience. This discussion should lead us to describe and better understand the modalities of this concept and how they interact with each other. Inspired by Adorno’s aesthetics and Jérôme Stolnitz’ emotionalist account of ugliness in art, ugliness will be redefined dialectically, as describing a properly human relationship with alterity, as well as a subjective satisfaction which can be defined within the traditional account of « negative pleasures », similar to what can be said regarding the use of horror and the sublime in arts.
Ugliness Aesthetic Beauty Philosophy Dialectic Emotionalism