The Agential Dimension of Disinteredness

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54103/2039-9251/29697

Keywords:

Agency, Disinterestedness, Taste, Universal Agreement

Abstract

The notion of disinterestedness is still central to the aesthetic debate today, as it has taken on very different and even ambiguous features throughout history. By tracing the roots of this concept, my aim is to read disinterestedness in the light of a perspective that is gaining ground in contemporary aesthetics, which sees the agential dimension as central. Kant’s interpretation is of particular interest because while it retains some of the passive traits from previous formulations, presenting the aesthetic judgments as a response, at the same time introducing some initial practical aspects. The ambiguity of Kantian disinterestedness allows us to argue, drawing from a more contemporary reflection such as that of Alcaraz León (2019), for the importance of recognizing a practical dimension inherent in taste. It contends that disinterested attention, far from being detached or inert, allows for a space of novelty, openness, and aesthetic exemplarity. This reframing positions taste not as a mere passive response but as a situated, normative practice that participates in the formation of shared meaning through example rather than rule.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Alcaraz León, M. J., Beauty and the Agential Dimension of the Judgment of Taste, in W. Huemer, I.V. Ferran (ed. by) Beauty. New Essays in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art, Philosophia, 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2nrzh64.8

Baumann, N., Autotelic personality, in S. Engeser (ed. by) Advances in flow research, Springer Science + Business Media, 2012, pp. 165–186. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2359-1_9

Bertinetto, A. & Bertram, G., We Make Up the Rules as We Go Along: Improvisation as an Essential Aspect of Human Practices?, in “Open Philosophy”, 3(1), (2020), pp. 202-221. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/opphil-2020-0012

Bertinetto, A., Formatività ricorsiva e costruzione della normatività nell’improvvisazione, in A. Sbordoni (ed. by) Improvvisazione Oggi, libreria musicale italiana, 2014, pp 15-28.

Bertinetto, A., Valore e autonomia dell'improvvisazione. Tra arti e pratiche, Mimesis, vol.3, 2018.

Bertinetto, A., Habits, Aesthetics and Normativity, in “Aisthesis”, 17(1), (2024), pp. 247-263.

Bertram, G., L’arte come prassi umana. Un’estetica (2014), ed. Cortina, tr. it. di A. Bertinetto, 2017.

Del Mar, M., Two Models of Normativity, in “SSRN”, (2009). DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1510124

Dewey, J., Art as Experience, Minton, Balch & Co, New York 1934.

Feloj, S., Aesthetic Normativity in Kant’s Account: A Regulative Model, in “Con-Textos Kantianos. International Journal of Philosophy”, 12, (2020), pp. 105-122.

Ferrara, A., The Force of the Example. Explorations in the Paradigm of Judgment, Columbia University Press, New York 2008. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7312/ferr14072

Ferrero, L., An Introduction to the Philosophy of Agency, in L. Ferrero (ed. by) The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Agency, Routledge New York 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429202131

Focosi, F., Being Tied to What, and Why? On the Objective Side of (Bertram’s Notion of) Aesthetic Experience, in “Comparative Studies in Modernism”, n. 6., (2015).

Gell, A., Art and agency, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1998. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198280132.001.0001

Ginsborg, H., Primitive Normativity and Skepticism about Rules, in “The Journal of Philosophy”, Vol. 108, No. 5, (2011), pp. 227-254. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5840/jphil2011108518

Gorodeisky, K., Aesthetic Agency, in L. Ferrero (ed. by) The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Agency, Routledge, New York 2022, pp. 456-466. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429202131-51

Guyer, P., Disinterestedness and Desire in Kant's Aesthetics, in “The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism”, Vol. 36, No. 4, (1978), pp. 449-460. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/430485

Kant, I., Analytic of the Beautiful, in J.C. Meredith (transl. by) The Critique of Judgement, Oxford University Press Inc., New York 2007.

Kant, I., Critica della facoltà di giudizio, E. Garroni and H. Hohenegger (ed. by), Einaudi, Torino 2022.

Knappett, C., & Malafouris, L., Material Agency: Towards a Non-Anthropocentric Approach, Springer Science, 2007. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-74711-8

Latour, B., On Interobjectivity, in “Mind, Culture, and Activity: An International Journal Traduction”, (1996). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327884mca0304_2

Maitland, L., Two sense of Necessity in Kant’s theory of Aesthetic, in “The British Journal of Aesthetics”, Vol 16, issue 4, (1976). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjaesthetics/16.4.347

Mole, C., Attention Is Cognitive Unison, in “An Essay in Philosophical Psychology”, Oxford University Press, (2011). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195384529.001.0001

Natale, F., Attenzione e disinteresse nell’esperienza estetica e artistica, Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, 2023.

Russo, F., Contemplazione e interpretazione. L’estetica kantiana nell’analisi di Luigi Pareyson, in “Acta Philosophica”, vol. 4, fasc. 1, (1995), pp. 105-110.

Solomon M. R., Pruitt D. J., Insko C. A., Taste Versus Fashion: the inferred Objectivity of Aesthetic Judgments, in “Empirical Studies of the Arts”, Vol 2(2), (1984), pp. 113-125. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2190/65NH-QYLQ-HT07-GMV0

Stolnitz J., On the Origins of "Aesthetic Disinterestedness", in “The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism”, Vol. 20, No. 2, (1961), pp. 131-143. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/427462

Toracca, T., Towards Exemplarity, in “Exemplarity and its Normativity”, Law and Literature, Vol. 30, No. 3, (2018), pp. 465-477. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1535685X.2017.1379195

Velotti, S., La scelta di Danto, in “Rivista di estetica”, 35, (2007), pp. 357-374. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/estetica.4232

Velotti, S., Making Sense: Disinterestedness and Control, in L. Berger (ed. by) Disinterested Pleasure and Beauty: Perspectives from Kantian and Contemporary Aesthetics, De Gruyter, Berlin Boston 2023, pp. 105-130. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110727685-006

Zangwill, N., Disinterestedness: Analysis and Partial Defense, in L. Berger (ed. by) Disinterested Pleasure and Beauty: Perspectives from Kantian and Contemporary Aesthetics, De Gruyter, Boston 2023 pp. 59-86. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110727685-004

Downloads

Published

2025-09-03

How to Cite

Mattioli, F. C. (2025). The Agential Dimension of Disinteredness. Itinera, (29), 305–318. https://doi.org/10.54103/2039-9251/29697