Talk To the Animals: A Short Comment on Wolfgang Welsch's "Animal Aesthetics" Stefan Snaevarr (Contemporary Aesthetics)Can animals feel aesthetic pleasure?
Submitted by LisaJ [Write Review]Review by Squid (04/18/06 11:36:12):
Stefan Snaevarr responds to Wolfang Welsch's "Animal Aesthetics" by bringing up two concerns that would possibly disprove Welsch's idea of the possibility of animals being able to feel aesthetic pleasure.
The first concern deals with the epistemological concept. Snaevarr asserts that animals do not have a system like language to express whether or not they feel aesthetic delight nor is there any real means of expressing through body language (as opposed to humans being able to use hands, mouth, eyes, etc. to create gestures and facial expressions).
The other concern is the conceptual kind. Snaevarr explains about the difference between a sensation and a feeling. A sensation refers to physical space and often deals with the body (ie: pain). A feeling, as Snaevarr puts it, has no localized space. But in order to show feelings and emotions, we derive and link their identity (anger, happiness, sadness, etc.) partly from an intentional object. He explains that the intentional object could be something that exist in physical space, be it tangible or not. The author claims that animals cannot make this link between emotions and objects because they do not have a language system like humans.
Interesting read. Considering Koko thinks her painting is toilet.