Ammon Allred is in the hot seat to explain how thinking about aesthetic experience more seriously can free us from the hold of normativity. Co-hosts Leigh and Shannon make his seat hotter by forcing him to listen and respond to an atonal polka rendition of The National Anthem and then asking questions about what counts as art, what aesthetic experience does for us, whether or not none-human animals and machines can produce art (or have aesthetic experiences), and karaoke.

What is art? What is an aesthetic experience? Which question is more important to the philosophical discipline of aesthetics? This episode explores the difference between an art object and an aesthetic experience. Unlike other forms of philosophy–such as epistemology, logic, and metaphysics, art leans away from objective arguments and more towards subjective experiences. As such, aesthetics is often marginalized when compared to its more bombastic philosophical siblings. Additionally, questions of aesthetics are often socially, politically and personally charged in ways more often seen in philosophical discussion of ethics and morality. This episode explores the possibility (or impossibility) of normative and non-normative aesthetic judgments, shared worlds, and what constitutes a “true” versus a “mistaken” aesthetic judgment.

For further reading, check out the links below:

• –Danto’s “aboutness” theory of art, as well as his delineation of the “artworld” are developed in his essay “The Artworld”
• Werner Herzog’s, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, which explores paleolithic art, with a particular interest in the role imagination plays in helping those of us in the 21st century understand this art.
• For one attempt to synthesize a short history of the development of sampling technology and a consideration of how that has shaped the development of music, see Mark Ronson’s TedTalk.
• Plato criticizes the philosophical value of art in several places (and defends it in others!) For an account particularly germane to the discussion in this episode, see the end of Book X of the Republic, where Socrates excludes poets and artists from the ideal community.
• Immanuel Kant argues that we would be offended to discover that birdsong was artificial.
• Olivier Messaien composed several pieces of music that were inspired by birdsong. Here, you can compare some of his transcriptions of birdsong with the actual birdsongs that inspired them.
• For an exploration of art created by AI and the implications this has on human artists, check out the article at Vox.
• Denis Dutton writes on philosophical problems associated with forgeries in “Artistic Crimes” (1979)
• If you need help finding your perfect karaoke song, try the Thrillist’s guide here.