Desidério Murcho
Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto
Versões da teoria

 Séc. XVIII
 Kant: desinteresse, contemplação indiferente à
existência do objeto
 Séc. XIX
 Schopenhauer: afastamento da relação voluntária com
as coisas
 Séc. XX
 Edward Bullough: distância psíquica
 Jerome Stolniz e Eliseo Vivas: atenção desinteressada
 Virgil Aldrich: “ver como”
Jerome Stolnitz (n. 1925)

 Filósofo norte-americano
 Professor na CUNY
 Autor de Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art Criticism
(1960)
Perceção seletiva

 A perceção é seletiva
 Vemos e ouvimos aquilo a que damos atenção
 Podemos dar atenção a vários aspetos diferentes de
uma coisa, pessoa ou acontecimento
 Raramente damos atenção a todos os aspetos de algo
 Os seres humanos não são “simply passive receptors
for any and all external stimuli” (Stolnitz 1960: 32)
Perceção prática

“The Indian scout gives close attention to markings and
clues which the person who is simply strolling through
the woods will pass over … To sum up, an attitude
organizes and directs our awareness of the world. Now
aesthetics is not the attitude which people usually
adopt. The attitude which we customarily take can be
called the attitude of “practical” perception.” (Stolnitz
1960: 33)
Além da perceção prática

“But nowhere is perception exclusively “practical.” On
occasion we pay attention to a thing simply for the sake
of enjoying the way it looks or sounds or feels. This is
the “aesthetic” attitude of perception.” (p. 34)
A atitude estética

Jerome Stolniz
Cautela epistémica

“It will forward our discussion of the aesthetic attitude
to have a definition of it. But you should remember that
a definition, here or in any other study, is only a point
of departure for further inquiry. Only the unwary or
intellectually lazy student will rest content with the
words of the definition alone, without seeing how it
helps us to understand our experience and how it can
be employed to carry on the study of aesthetics.” (p. 34)
Definição

 Atitude estética:
“disinterested and sympathetic attention to and
contemplation of any object of awareness whatever, for
its own sake alone.” (p. 35)
 Atenção desinteressada e compreensiva a, e
contemplação de, qualquer objeto de (cons)ciência,
apenas por si mesmo
Termos a explicar

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
(Atenção) desinteressada
(Atenção) compreensiva
Atenção
Qualquer objeto de (cons)ciência
Ciência (de estar ciente: awareness)
1. Atenção desinteressada

“It means we do not look at the object out of concern
for any ulterior purpose which it may serve. We are not
trying to use or manipulate the object. There is no
purpose governing the experience other than the
purpose of just having the experience.” (p. 35).
Um exagero

“the aesthetic attitude “isolates” the object and focuses
upon it — the “look” of the rocks, the sound of the
ocean, the colors in the painting. Hence the object is not
seen in a fragmentary or passing manner, as it is in
“practical perception”, e.g., in using a pen for writing.
Its whole nature and character are dwelt upon.” (p. 35)
Outro exagero

“For the aesthetic attitude, things are not to be classified
or studied or judged. They are in themselves pleasant
or exciting to look at.” (p. 35)
Uma distinção

 Uma atitude desinteressada não é uma atitude
alheada
 desinterested  uninterested
2. Atenção compreensiva

“The word “sympathetic” in the definition of “aesthetic
attitude” refers to the way in which we prepare
ourselves to respond to the object. When we apprehend
an object aesthetically, we do so in order to relish its
individual quality, whether the object be charming,
stirring, vivid or all of these. If we are to appreciate it
we must accept the object “on its own terms.” We must
make ourselves receptive to the object …” (p. 36)
3. Atenção

“aesthetic perception is frequently thought to be a
“blank, cow-like stare.” It is easy to fall into this
mistake when we find aesthetic perception described as
“just looking,” without any activity or practical interest.
From this it is inferred that we simply expose ourselves
to the work of art and permit it to inundate us in waves
of sound or color.” (p. 37)
 Tensão com a p. 36
Atenção intensa

“... when we read a novel which creates great suspense,
we give our earnest attention to it to the exclusion of
almost everything else in our surroundings. … In
taking the aesthetic attitude, we want to make the value
of the object come fully alive in our experience. …
experience is aesthetic only when an object “holds” our
attention.” (p. 37)
Atenção ativa

“aesthetic attention is accompanied by activity. … This
does not occur in aesthetic experience alone, and it does
not occur in all aesthetic experience, but when it does, it
exemplifies the kind of activity which may be aroused
in aesthetic perception. The direction of attention itself
may not improperly be called “activity.” ” (p. 37).
Atenção discriminativa

“To savor fully the distinctive value of the object, we
must be attentive to its frequently complex and subtle
details. Acute awareness of these details is
discrimination.” (p. 38)
4. Qualquer objeto de
(cons)ciência

“… any object at all can be apprehended aesthetically,
i.e., no object is inherently unaesthetic. … The whole
“history of taste” shows how the boundaries of
aesthetic experience have been pushed back and have
come to include a tremendous variety of things.” (p. 39)
Perspicácia

 Depois de dar vários exemplos de como a categoria
do estético se alargou cada vez mais:
“Evidence of this kind cannot establish that all objects can
be aesthetic objects. When such evidence is multiplied,
however, it makes this assumption a reasonable one at
the outset of aesthetic inquiry.” (p. 41).
5. Awareness

 A apreensão estética é como que uma perceção
 Percecionar é apreender dados dos sentidos; é estar
ciente de cores, sons, cheiros, etc., e interpretá-los
 Percecionar é interpretar sensações
 Tanto a perceção como a sensação podem ser
estéticas
Awareness intelectual

 Além da consciência sensível há a consciência
inteligível
 Estamos cientes de conceitos, significados e suas
relações
 Esta consciência pode ser estética
A fronteira do estético

“… I have used the term “awareness” rather than
“perception.” Anything at all, whether it is the product
of imagination or conceptual thought, can become the
object of aesthetic attention.” (p. 42)