Aesthetics beyond the Mind's Eye: Imagery and the Sister Arts
Aesthetics beyond the Mind's Eye: Imagery and the Sister Arts
The cognitive architecture of aesthetics that has so far been sketched allows for a reinterpretation of the relations among visual art, music, and literature. However, sight is not the only mode for imagery and, this chapter argues, the sensory variety and functional power of imagery make it crucial to understanding aesthetics across the Sister Arts, and beyond. This chapter begins with the visual imagery associated with words. However, it moves beyond it, exploring not just multisensory imagery but the way in which imagery has both epistemic and reward functions. The chapter then proposes that imagery moves us across the arts, and that it does so in part because of its relation to default modes of cognition.
Keywords: cognitive architecture, visual art, music, literature, sensory variety, imagery, modes of cognition
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