The Self and the Aesthetic

This dissertation offers a view of aesthetic value and its pursuit that, in several ways, goes against central trends in mainstream aesthetics. It does so in large part by trying to improve upon our understanding of important but neglected aesthetic phenomena, especially beauty, aesthetic sensibility, and personal style. I argue that these phenomena play a crucial and underappreciated role in revealing, shaping, and expressing important ways we have of understanding and valuing the kind of person we are.;In Chapter 1, "The Self in the Aesthetic," I argue that in recent decades philosophers have unreasonably neglected beauty. A result of this is that we have almost no understanding of why past philosophers sought to place such grand importance on it. It may be tempting to dismiss the thought that beauty is profound in any way, but, as I show, we still connect with at least one way in which beauty has a kind of personal significance.;In Chapter 2, "Beauty and Love," I try to make sense of beauty's personal significance by exploring the Platonic view that beauty is the object of love. I argue that, although various formulations of the view throughout history are problematic, there is a novel view, according to which beauty is that which elicits and warrants an emotion aptly called "love". I develop this view by spelling out the basic elements of a sentimentalist theory of beauty.;In Chapter 3, "Sensibility and the Aesthetic Ideal," I address the neglected question of how we should pursue aesthetic value in light of the view that beauty is the object of love. I argue that the Hume-inspired view that we should strive to be "ideal critics" is mistaken. I suggest, instead, that the aesthetic ideal is a matter of having style.;In Chapter 4, "Personal Style and Artistic Style" I take up the neglected question of what it is for a person to have style by considering the better-explored topic of artistic style. I articulate and defend a view of personal style according to which, roughly, a person has style to the extent that she embodies her ideals.