Towards an Aesthetics of Touch: Challenges and Opportunities

The so-called “lower senses” of taste and smell have received some attention in philosophical aesthetics over the past two decades, but touch remains relatively neglected. This paper addresses some possible reasons for its neglect and indicates promising areas of exploration. Section 1 briefly reviews challenges to developing an aesthetics of touch, some ontological, some cultural, some historical. Section 2 indicates some aspect of the nature of touch relevant to aesthetics, Section3 addresses the question of whether touch qualifies as a vehicle for aesthetic experience and suggests a notions of the aesthetic appropriate to touch. Section 4 turns to selected opportunities for reflecting on the aesthetics of touch in three broad areas: 1) art, craft and design 2) everyday and nature aesthetics 3) interpersonal touch.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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