Aesthetic Judgements and Entities

The term entity refers to anything “…which is perceived or known or inferred to have its own distinct existence (living or nonliving).”[1] An entity can be a person, a physical object, or an intangible concept, such as integrity. Although everything that exists is an entity, this discussion is primarily concerned with entities that are concepts, beliefs, values, people, or social intuitions. A conceptual entity refers to the existence of a specific concept, such as the idea “good art is meaningful.” Conceptual entities exist when their associated concepts are known by at least one person and they are strengthened when they become known by more people. A personal entity refers to the existence of a particular person whose existence is determined by the presence of particular personal attributes, such as popularity, financial worth, or accomplishment. A social entity refers to a specific organization of people, such as a university, a business organization, an art museum, or a city. The existence of a social entity is enhanced when it becomes more popular or obtains more authority, status, or economic worth. The term entity has been adopted to emphasize that the existence of concepts, people, and social institutions can all be influenced by aesthetic judgements.

Aesthetic judgements are designated as mechanisms that have potential to promote or undermine specific conceptual, personal, or social entities. Aesthetic judgements can contribute to the strength of specific entities by enhancing their popularity, social status, authority, financial worth, or any other characteristic considered valuable. This perspective considers audiences to have a very important role in the function of media because their aesthetic judgements determine which entities will be promoted. Although an artist is usually designated as the creator of an artwork, this book adopts the view of philosopher Roman Ingarden who considers the mental experience of an artwork to be co-created by its artist and the aesthetic perspective of its audience.[2]

A common function of aesthetic judgements is to strengthen one or more of the following: the creators of content, the people who pay for creation of content, or the people who create media technology. The reputation of an artist is increased by having exhibitions--which result from positive aesthetic judgements by curators. When a person buys an artwork because it is liked, that person’s judgement will provide financial strength to the artist. During the Renaissance, it was common for the Papacy to hire artists for the creation of artworks that depicted biblical scenes, thereby providing a mechanism for popularizing the Papacy’s religion and the Papacy itself. When a film is liked by many people, the reputation and income of the studio that made the film will be strengthened. When a television advertisement is judged positively by an audience, the usual consequence is an increase in sales for the advertiser, thereby increasing its financial strength. And when audiences like an exhibition at an art museum, the museum and the artists of the exhibition will receive an increase in reputation and possibly income. Similarly, if content is distributed in a technical format that can be experienced only through a particular technology, profit is provided to the manufacturer of that technology whenever people use it.

© Don Ritter

1. "Entity" WordNet 2.0, web site: wordnet.princeton.edu, Princton: Princeton University (accessed August 24, 2004)

2. Ingarden. Roman (1972) “Artistic and Aesthetic Values,” in Aesthetics, ed. Harold Osborne. (London: Oxford University Press, 1972).