Learning to Appreciate Aesthetic Values

The overarching goal of the project is to define ""aesthetic learning"" as a complex, multi-layered mental process from an empirically informed philosophical perspective. The research project will rely on (a) the philosophical literature concerning aesthetic values and (b) psychological evidence in cognitive sciences about the acquisition and development of perceptual and affective discriminatory capacities. The outcome of the project will be a model of aesthetic learning capable of exploiting the most recent advancements in the cognitive sciences within a rigorous philosophical framework. By focusing on such basic and uncontroversial components of aesthetic appreciation as perception and emotions, the project will establish viable criteria for the definition of aesthetic values that can be perceptually learnt and for the definition of aesthetic appreciation. Such a model will be submitted to experts in art teaching, made available for experimental testing and introduced to broader audiences. Thanks to the fellowship, the ER will fulfill the career goal of becoming an established researcher in the field of philosophical aesthetics, either with a permanent position or as a PI of a research project in a European university.""