Świat poza dualizmami : pytania o rozumienie estetyczne w kontekście nowego materializmu

Abstract

The article is an attempt to describe the issue of aesthetic understanding, raised by David Hume, and – later – by Arnold Berleant. The author tries to locate the problem in New Materialist perspective according to theories of Karen Barad. With this, the author attempts to indicate that aesthetics (understand as the general theory of sensory cognition) should be considered in-between ontology and epistemology. This way of thinking about the aesthetic could be a way to overcome the mind–body dualism. Hitherto narratives of the philosophy of body (ex. somaesthetics by Richard Shusterman) do not seem to avoid this distinction. By referring to the idea of atmospheres by Gernot Böhme and locating it in New Materialist perspective, the author points out, that aesthetic understanding can be explored only if we consider as well the inner body processes as the surrounding environment.