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Definition:
The term "aesthetic distance" was coined by Edward Bullough (1880-1934) in 1912 (in his
famous article "'Psychical Distance' as a Factor in Art and as an Aesthetic Principle",
which appeared in the British Journal of Psychology) in order to refer to the
psychological perspective or attitude which should exist on the part of anyone
contemplating a work of art. Bullough wrote:
Distance ...is obtained by separating the object and its appeal from one's own self, by putting it out of gear with practical needs and ends. Thereby the 'contemplation' of the object becomes alone possible. But it does not mean that the relation between the self and the object is broken to the extent of becoming 'impersonal.'
According to Bullough, a person is "overdistanced" when their perspective becomes too "cold" and "withdrawn" - resulting in a failure to be sufficiently involved with the works' emotional appeal to properly understand or relate to it. On the other hand, a person can become "underdistanced" when their view becomes too "subjective," thus resulting in a failure to be able to appreciate any of the larger issues involved with the work or any larger messages the work is trying to convey. Thus, proper aesthetic distance means finding some middle ground between the ways in which a work of art makes you feel and the ways it makes you think.
Also Known As: none
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Related Resources:
What is Aesthetics?
In philosophy, aesthetics is the study of beauty and taste, whether in the form of the comic, the tragic or the sublime. Aesthetics has traditionally been part of other philosophical pursuits like the investigation of epistemology or ethics. However, it started to come into its own and become a more independent pursuit under Immanuel Kant, the German philosopher who saw aesthetics as a unitary and self-sufficient type of human experience.What is Philosophy?
What is philosophy? Is there any point in studying philosophy, or is it a useless subject? What are the different branches of philosophy - what's the difference between aestheitcs and ethics? What's the difference between metaphysics and epistemology?
