Everyday Aesthetic Value

Understanding the nature of aesthetic value is important because it forms a big part of what makes our lives worth living. In the last 10-15-years, there has been an upsurge of interest in theories of aesthetic value.

However, most of this work has focussed on understanding the value of artworks and artefacts, and this has created a blind spot in understanding the nature of aesthetic value: the realm of everyday aesthetic phenomena.

EveryAesthetic addresses this lacuna by developing an innovative approach to aesthetic value that takes seriously the extent of its diversity and fullness in our lives. It has two research and innovation objectives.

First, it aims to identify and elucidate the challenges that everyday aesthetic phenomena pose to prominent existing theories of aesthetic value.

Second, it aims to develop answers to two key questions regarding the nature of everyday aesthetic phenomena; namely, how to demarcate these phenomena as aesthetic and how to explain what makes them valuable.

EveryAesthetic makes a timely critical intervention in current debates about aesthetic value, and it offers a foundational contribution to literature on everyday aesthetics, bridging the gap between these two fields of research. The supervisor, Prof. Elisabeth Schellekens, is a world-renowned philosopher who specialises in questions concerning aesthetic value.

The host institution, the Department of Philosophy at Uppsala University (UU), has an exceptionally strong research record in aesthetics.

Both are ideally placed in Europe to facilitate EveryAesthetic by supporting me to gain the expertise I need to pursue its objectives and enhance my employability.

Meanwhile, I will transfer knowledge I have spanning the disciplines of philosophy and art history to the Department at UU by undertaking a variety of knowledge-transfer and dissemination activities, including delivering a postgraduate course, delivering guest lectures, and participating in its programme of research events.