This thesis focuses on the opposing accounts of aesthetic experience presented by Immanuel Kant in the Critique of the Power of Judgment and by Pierre Bourdieu in Distinction. Using close textual analysis, I will detail the theoretical approaches to understanding how we interact with aesthetically-constituted objects and aesthetic experience’s place in the historical narratives presented by both authors. Then, considering the advantages and shortcomings of each model, I will advocate for a future understanding of aesthetic experience that embraces an infinite dialectic between the two.
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