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Add your email and/or socials here!

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Upcoming 5/27 11am EST on Zoom: Brooklyn Arts Council Grants Coaching Session

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Upcoming 5/27 11am EST on Zoom: Brooklyn Arts Council Grants Coaching Session

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https://www.eventbrite.com/e/coaching-session-grant-writing-for-bac-grant-submissions-tickets-631045643507?aff=erelexpmlt

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Coaching Session: Grant Writing for BAC Grant Submissions

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This coaching session with Desiree Gordon & Daniela Fifi will focus on grant writing for Brooklyn Arts Council funding.

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https://vimeo.com/brooklynarts/teachingartistentrepreneurship?share=copy

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Hosted by Brooklyn Arts Council Featuring Aissata Richards & Siobhan O’loughlin Thursday, May 25, 2023, 12pm-2pm EST This workshop is designed to share…

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Workshop Material: How do you define success as an artistic entrepreneur?

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Workshop Material: How do you define success as an artistic entrepreneur?

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Link to add answers: https://www.menti.com/aliwuz3m9muu

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Workshop Material: One(ish) Word Takeaways

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Workshop Material: One(ish) Word Takeaways

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Link to add answers: https://www.menti.com/albrq1scuumx

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Connecting: Aissata Richards - Societies of Unity

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Connecting: Aissata Richards - Societies of Unity

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CHANGING THE FUTURE WITH DIGITAL MEDIA

OUR MISSION

Societies of Unity Non Profit Organization working towards change in local communities by using technology education and community building events. Visual activism calls for attention from each generation and plays an important key role in growth. The medium of storytelling is important to uplift and revamp the country narrative as a whole.

$10K

Raised through
our campaigns and community fundraisers

500+

Students served
by our educational programs

30

Projects Initiated in Liberia, Monrovia
Since 2018

Creative World Digital Art Space is our new training center located in Clara town, Monrovia, West Africa. At our space we provide students with an inclusive and safe place to learn and explore. We offer education services in various digital media mediums such as video production, computer literature, graphic designing, music production and Education Leadership.

The Programs offered at our space helps give young people the tools to help tell their stories and give them entrepreneurship skill as they engage in critical investigations of self and society.

​

​

Donate

We want to invite you to be a part of making this happen. we are on a mission to inspire, empowered and teach hundreds of young people in africa on how to utilize the power of filmmaking to tell create effect social change. We need your support to continue our mission of keeping these opportunities accessible to the citizen who need our support the most.

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CHANGING THE FUTURE WITH DIGITAL MEDIA OUR MISSION Societies of Unity Non Profit Organization working towards change in local communities by using technology education and community building events. Visual activism calls for attention from each generation and plays an important key role in growth.

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Performance Artist * Creative Coach * Filmmaker * Voice Over

Siobhán O'Loughlin (she/her) is a Los Angeles-based creative. She is the recipient of The New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, a grant recipient of the Network of Ensemble Theatres, a Moth Story Slam Champion, a fellow at Guild Hall of East Hampton, and an international teaching artist. Her site specific, immersive piece, Broken Bone Bathtub, toured globally for five consecutive years with over 600 performances in 40 different cities, was featured in the PBS Emmy-Award Winning Documentary Series Immersive.World, and clocked top ten lists for theatre experiences from the Baltimore Sun, The San Francisco Examiner, and The Houston Chronicle. Broken Bone Bathtub is the recipient of the 2019 Immersion Award for Most Transformative Experience.

Siobhán is currently in the distribution phase for her feature-length documentary about her experience with Broken Bone Bathtub on the road, of which she is the Director, and for which she single-handedly raised $40,000. By herself.

She quickly pivoted in the Covid-era to perform weekly in her interactive serial digital art experiment, Please Don't Touch the Artist (PDT), which has earned No Proscenium's Audience Choice Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in 2020.

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Siobhán O'Loughlin (she/her) is a Los Angeles-based creative. She is the recipient of The New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, a grant recipient of the Network of Ensemble Theatres, a Moth Story Slam Champion, a fellow at Guild Hall of East Hampton, and an international teaching artist.

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Resource: Brooklyn Arts Council Thrive Guide

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Resource: Brooklyn Arts Council Thrive Guide

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Thrive Brooklyn is a multi-media digital Resource Guide for financial wellness that BAC is producing with an aggregate of community partners who are serious about asset building and equity.

Thrive Brooklyn will be added to on a continual basis - come back for more and let us know what else you'd like to see here. Content categories include:

Personal Financial Literacy: Budgeting, Taxes, Savings, Retirement, & Asset Building

New Economies: Financial Strategies for Equity, Thriving, & Abundance

Income & Fundraising: Crowdfunding, Grantwriting, Sponsorships, & Monetizing Your Practice

Legal Basics: Contracts, Copyright, & Intellectual Property

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What We Do > PD > Thrive Brooklyn - Brooklyn Arts Council

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Thrive Brooklyn is a multi-media digital Resource Guide for financial wellness that BAC is producing with an aggregate of community partners who are serious about asset building and equity. Thrive Brooklyn will be added to on a continual basis - come back for more and let us know what else you'd like to see here.

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Resource: NYFA Arts Entrepreneurship Resources

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Resource: NYFA Arts Entrepreneurship Resources

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Resource: Fractured Atlas Instagram: Grant & Residency Opportunities

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Resource: Fractured Atlas Instagram: Grant & Residency Opportunities

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https://www.instagram.com/fractured.atlas/

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Fractured Atlas (@fractured.atlas) • Instagram photos and videos

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6,961 Followers, 771 Following, 857 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Fractured Atlas (@fractured.atlas)

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Resource: Candid (FNA The Foundation Center)

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Resource: Candid (FNA The Foundation Center)

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Resources for grant writing and non profits

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Candid | Foundation Center and GuideStar are now Candid

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Candid connects people who want to change the world to the resources they need to do it. In 2019, Foundation Center and GuideStar joined forces to become Candid.

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Learning: Aunty Skates: Follow the Models of Folks in Other Industries

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Learning: Aunty Skates: Follow the Models of Folks in Other Industries

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https://www.auntyskates.com/

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it's never too late to live your best life

I started skateboarding at the age of 4 3 so I could spend more time with my kids! But, I never realized how much skateboarding would change my life for the better!

Hello

Hi! My name is Oorbee Roy, you may know me as Aunty Skates. I went viral on TikTok for sharing my skateboarding journey!

Since then, I've helped hundreds of adults get on a skateboard safely, learn to skate a mini-ramp and bowl, drop-in, face their fears, and get stoked through lessons, events, corporate retreats, and being everyone's favorite stoke coach or Skoach™.

​

As a motivational speaker . skateboard instructor and content creator, I've coached hundreds of people on how to carve out their passion and start living their best lives. I share the lessons I've learned as a skateboarder: I teach people how to enjoy the journey and not take the bumps, bruises, and falls so seriously.

So, are you ready to live your best life?

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TORONTO, ON
May 13, 2023

LIMITED PAID AND FLOW Sponsorship OPPORTUNTIES STILL AVAILABLE

Let's work together

Speaking and Team Building

Skate Clinics and lessons

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it's never too late to live your best life I started skateboarding at the age of 4 3 so I could spend more time with my kids! But, I never realized how much skateboarding would change my life for the better! Hello Hi! My name is Oorbee Roy, you may know me as Aunty Skates.

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Information on nonprofit organization including courses on grant writing, fund raising, social media, and board management.

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Premium, Live, And On-Demand Nonprofit Webinar Training Courses

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The Most Comprehensive Nonprofit Education Platform in the World! Offering Live and On-Demand nonprofit webinars by today's leading nonprofit experts.

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We power Creative Exchange

Springboard for the Arts' national program is Creative Exchange, an online platform sharing stories of artists with impact and practical toolkits for you to create and run artist-centered projects in your community.

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Springboard for the Arts | Thrive as an artist, connect to artists

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Springboard for the Arts' national program is Creative Exchange, an online platform sharing stories of artists with impact and practical toolkits for you to create and run artist-centered projects in your community.

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https://www.wavewyld.com/insidescoop

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Feel like you're wasting time scrolling and searching for the right trends

Know that you need to show up on video, but don't know what to post

Need more inspiration and content ideas for your short form videos

Need to keep motivated and consistent with your posting and growth goals

Want to grow an audience on social media

The trends and video trainings are perfect for ANY Service or Product Based Business owner who want to skyrocket their social media accounts.

If you are an online business owner, author, entertainer, social media manager, real estate agent, fitness coach, a doctor, hairstylist, or just someone who just wants to reach more people of social media...

Get the inside scoop membership.

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Feel like you're wasting time scrolling and searching for the right trends Know that you need to show up on video, but don't know what to post Need more inspiration and content ideas for your short form videos Need to keep motivated and consistent with your posting and growth goals Want to grow an audience on social media The trends and video trainings are perfect for ANY Service or Product Based Business owner who want to skyrocket their social media accounts.

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Difference Between Passive Income vs Active Income

Passive income refers to money earned with little or no effort, whereas earning active income necessitates a significant amount of time and energy. While the former does not require physical or active involvement to generate an income, material participation is a must in the latter case.

Passive sources of income may include money generated from interest and dividends on investments, limited partnerships, and rental property. Likewise, salary, hourly wages, commissions, and tips are examples of active sources of revenue. One can have one of these income sources or both of them to enjoy financial freedom and lead a desired lifestyle. Passive earning is a better choice than active one in terms of practicality, but one must have a regular source of money to earn passively.

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For eg:
Source: Passive Income vs Active Income (wallstreetmojo.com)

Passive Income vs Active Income Comparative Table

The difference between active income and passive income are as follows:

Definition
* Can be earned with little or no effort and without material participation
* Individuals become their boss

* Requires physical involvement and material participation
* Individuals work under a boss to whom they report

Interrelation
* Serves as a supplement to regular income

* Provides resources for passive revenue

Consistency
* Can take months or years to accumulate and might not be consistent

* Quicker and ensures regular income stream

Lifestyle Effect
* Allows individuals to devote more time and energy to recreational activities and hobbies

* Individuals may not be left with enough stamina to pursue their hobbies or may not even have time for their families

Taxability
* Subject to potential tax deductions

* Taxable income

Results
* Generates money while sleeping, vacationing, or doing something else

* Necessitates being awake, active, dedicated, and working

What Is Passive Income?

The income generated from an income-producing asset without requiring much work on the part of the individual is considered passive. Also, it does not obligate the person to be physically present to continue making money. However, the initial investment or effort required to earn passively comes from active revenue streams Revenue streams refer to the different sources through which the company generates profit, such as selling the products, catering the services or offering a combination of goods and services to the clients. . Once opted, it keeps giving returns long after making the investment or finishing the task.

The effort required to maintain the passive cash flow usually depends on a specific skill set and strategy. Even though earning through passive means might take months or years to accumulate, it provides tax benefits passive income Passive income is the cash flow generated by an individual with minimum or no effort at regular intervals. It gives them additional financial security while requiring some amount of hard work initially, such as maintaining rental properties, making investments, upgrading products, etc. , such as: Tax benefits refer to the credit that a business receives on its tax liability for complying with a norm proposed by the government. The advantage is either credited back to the company after paying its regular taxation amount or deducted when paying the tax liability in the first place. on income, Social Security, and Medicare. Real estate investment can act as both passive and active income. Besides rental properties, several other sources can help people generate

Real estate investments or rental income

Peer-to-peer lending

Display advertising

YouTube Channels

Online course sales

Write and publish a book or eBook to earn royalty

Affiliate marketing

Self-charged interests

Digital advertising

Examples

A retired property owner with no more energy left to work daily can put a portion of the residence on rent. In doing so, the homeowner will keep receiving the payment from tenants for years without putting in any additional effort.

Blogger Marcus writes product reviews for an e-commerce website. He writes honest reviews so that readers may trust his judgment and buy or check out the products he recommends. Thus, through affiliate marketing, Marcus earns a commission for every customer redirecting through his blogs.

If Marcus could not provide reviews for a few days due to health issues, his old articles continue to drive traffic to the e-commerce website. It will bring him a significant passive income at regular intervals. Thus, Marcus will never stop earning even though he stops working.

In passive income, therefore, an individual does not have to work daily. Instead, the money or time invested upfront continues to pay off every day, allowing the investor to generate additional income.

What Is Active Income?

It is the income earned from a part-time or full-time job or from performing a time-consuming task or service. Here, the individual receives a fixed hourly wage or salary. It also involves earning money by running a business or opting for self-employment. The amount earned and saved this way forms the basis for investing in passive sources of income.

Having an active source of income mandates an individual's physical presence and material participation. If there is no active engagement, there will be no income in this arrangement. It is both quicker and more consistent than passive income. Some of the active income examples include:

Examples

Dentist Sophia gets paid for the tooth treatment when her clinic is open. However, days she could not open the clinic due to some personal emergency result in zero income. Thus, her presence and participation are a must to generate money in the form of fees paid by her patients.

Sarah was not allowed any leave during her probation period in a new company. Unfortunately, she was hospitalized for surgery during probation and remained absent for two weeks in a row. Though her job was secure, she lost her pay for the days of absence. It signifies the working of an active source of income.

An active source of income pays individuals only when they are desirably productive. Else, they either lose their pay or their job.

Passive Income vs Active Income Infographics

Passive Income vs Active Income

Both passive income and active income differ from each other in many ways. Without active income, individuals will have no resources to invest to earn an income passively. While passive income can be supplementary to a regular income, active income is a must for anyone seeking it. However, there are scenarios where an individual might have to devote some hours to earn passively, including supervising the task. Therefore, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has created guidelines to distinguish between passive income vs active income.

If a source of income meets any of the following criteria, it becomes an active income:

An employee working for a company for 500 hours or more in a year.

The individual devoting more than 100 hours to a company or business during a given year. Additionally, no one works more hours than that person.

Passive Income vs Active Income Example

Let us consider an example where Tom and Kate start a business in partnership. Tom works throughout the day to make sure products are manufactured and shipped on time to meet market demands. As an investor, Kate, however, hardly devotes much time to the business.

In this example, the business is an active source of income for Tom but a passive one for Kate.

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to Passive Income vs Active Income. Here we discuss top differences between Passive Income vs Active Income, along with infographics and a comparison table. You may also have a look at the following articles -

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Passive income refers to money earned with little or no effort, whereas earning active income necessitates a significant amount of time and energy. While the former does not require physical or active involvement to generate an income, material participation is a must in the latter case.

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Philosophical discourse concerning the value of art is a discourse concerning what makes an artwork valuable qua its being an artwork. Whereas the concern of the critic is what makes the artwork a good artwork, the question for the aesthetician is why it is a good artwork. When we refer to a work's value qua art, we mean those elements of it that contribute to or detract from that work's value considered as an artwork. In this way, we aim to exclude those things that are valuable or useful about an artwork, such as a sculpture's being a good doorstop, but that are not relevant for assessment in artistic terms. Philosophers of art, then, attempt to justify for the critic the categories or determinants with which they can make an appropriate and successful appraisal of an artwork.

What persons consider to be valuable about artworks has often tracked what they take artworks to be. In the humble beginnings of the artwork, artworks were taken to be accurate representations of the world or to be a beautiful, skillful creation that may also have served religious or political functions. Towards the eighteenth century, in light of Baumgarten's introduction of the term aesthetics, alongside Hume's and Kant's treatises, the artwork's definition and value moved toward the domains of aesthetic experience and judgments of beauty. Autonomy became desired, and political or moral commentary was supposedly inimical to value qua art. Contemporary art has pushed back against these boundaries-with social, ethical, political messages and criticism being drawn back into our artistic assessments.

Different artworks manifest different kinds of composite values. The philosopher of art's task is to examine which values can appropriately be considered determinants of artistic value and, subsequently, what the value of art might be beyond these determinants. There is substantial disagreement about which, and how, determinants affect artistic value. Consequently, there is a vast catalogue of positions to which aestheticians subscribe, and the terminology can make it difficult to know who is talking about what. To provide some clarity to the reader in navigating this terminology and discourse, the end of this article includes an alphabetized summary of those positions. The various positions are cashed out in reference to mainly visual art, with some treatment of literature. Although some positions are easily transferred to other forms of art, some are not.

Table of Contents

1. The Nature of Artistic Value

In this way, artistic value is attributive goodness. It is just how good or bad something is in the category of artworks or, as philosophers like to say, qua art. Accordingly, in order for something to have artistic value, it must be an artwork; something that is not in the category of artworks cannot have artistic value if artistic value is the value (goodness) something has as art. Artistic value, then, is something all and only artworks have to the extent that they are good or bad artworks. Moreover, the assessment of artistic value constrains itself to the domain of artistic relevance: something might be good, but it does not necessarily follow that it is a good artwork. Conversely, something might be a good artwork, but not good simpliciter. That is, Nabokov's Lolita might be a good artwork, it has high artistic value, but it is not good simpliciter. It might also make for a good coffee mug coaster, and so is good as coffee-mug-coaster, but this does not have bearing on its goodness as art. The reasons for assessing something as having high artistic value must be relevant to the category 'artworks', and so not all things valuable about an artwork are things that contribute to its artistic value.

a. Aesthetic Value and Artistic Value

i. Aesthetic Value

Given art's intimate tie to the aesthetic, a good place to start the inquiry into the value of art appears to be aesthetic value. We are concerned in this subsection with the nature of aesthetic value and what it is as a kind of value, whereas in 1.a.ii we will examine the contentious question concerning the relationship between aesthetic and artistic value, such as whether these are one and the same value. In terms of the value of art, that question is the most important for our purposes. However, in order to answer it, we need to get a hold on what aesthetic value actually is. So, what is aesthetic value? Many agree that this question actually involves two subsidiary questions: first, what makes aesthetic value aesthetic and, second, what makes aesthetic value a value? The former has been referred to as the demarcation or aesthetic question, the latter as the normative question, terminology that originates in Lopes (2018; see specifically pp. 41-43 for the proposing of the questions, and pp. 43-50 for a brief discussion of them) and adopted by subsequent work in philosophical aesthetics (e.g., Shelley, 2019 and Van der Berg, 2019 both provide assessments in terms of these questions). To be specific, the aesthetic question asks us why some merits are distinctively aesthetic merits instead of some other kind of merit, whilst the normative question asks what makes that value reason-giving: how does it "lend weight to what an agent aesthetically should do?" (Lopes, 2018, p. 42).

One relatively significant objection to this, however, is that Carroll maintains a narrow approach to the concept of the aesthetic. That is, he bases aesthetic properties on formal, perceptible properties that give rise to the content of the work. Goldman criticizes this and instead endorses a broad notion of the aesthetic to include moral, political, and cognitive concerns. If our aesthetic experiences take on regard to these sorts of features, and their pleasurable nature is affected as such, then it looks like Carroll's view is too narrow. Indeed, this kind of objection is leveled against those that think aesthetic value and artistic value are one and the same thing as we shall see later. It looks like we value art for more than just formal and perceptible properties; we say artworks can teach us, that they can provide moral commentary, and so on. That being said, if one does not commit to aesthetic value and artistic value's identity, then that aesthetic experiences are characterized by their content as formal and perceptible properties looks convincing when one remembers we have aesthetic experiences of not just artworks, but also everyday phenomena including nature. Aesthetic value, therefore, needn't include moral and cognitive concerns if it is also ascribed to things that are not artworks.

Valuing approaches, by contrast, vary in what they are committed to, but broadly-speaking suggest that aesthetic experiences have a particular character (that doesn't necessarily rely on their content). This character is distinct from any other experience we might have, and so is unique to the aesthetic (thus answering the aesthetic question). They might be, for example, experiences 'for their own sake', or those that are emotionally rewarding on their own, without recourse to further utility, gain, or ends. The main task here is to account for how we get to an experience valued for its own sake, without necessarily referencing content, and in a way that can distinguish aesthetic pleasure from other, perhaps lesser, pleasures.

We can take a historical turn here: in his third Critique, Kant (1987) introduces the notion of disinterestedness to carve out the distinctive character of aesthetic experiences and judgements of beauty. Disinterestedness refers to the abstraction of 'concepts' in our judgement and experience of beautiful things. That is, when we view things aesthetically, we remove all constraints regarding what the thing is, how it is supposed to function, whether it makes any moral, political, or social claims, our own personal emotional states, and so on. A judgement of aesthetic value must also demarcate itself from 'mere agreeableness', which is perhaps the kind of aforementioned pleasure we have in submitting our final graduate school paper. Kant thinks this unique pleasure arises from our state of disinterestedness leading to the 'free play' of the imagination and understanding (see Kant, 1987, §1-§22; in contemporary aesthetics, the notion of disinterestedness has had greater uptake than the claim of 'free play'). Something's aesthetic value, on this account, is tied to the value of the experience we have of it without any instrumental, utilitarian, moral, or overall 'conceptual' concerns.

The notion of disinterestedness has sparked a lively scholarship, not least because it appears to give rise to a contradiction in Kant's own Critique. After suggesting that judgements of beauty (perhaps, judgements of aesthetic value in contemporary terms) employ no concepts, therefore subscribing to disinterestedness, he also suggests that a species of beautiful judgements, termed dependent beauty, are in fact made with reference to concepts (see Kant, 1987, pp. §16). Additional scholarship has attempted to refine or recalibrate the notion of disinterestedness, specifically with regard to what the aesthetic attitude entails. For example, Stolnitz (1960, 1978) suggests that the aesthetic attitude, which allows us to make perceptual contact with something in order to retrieve an aesthetic experience, is encompassed by disinterested and sympathetic attention to the object for its own sake. Bullough (1912), likewise, invokes a kind of distancing to access the aesthetic experience: over-distance and you'll be too removed to gain the pleasure, under-distance and you'll be too involved. The aesthetic question is answered thus: what makes aesthetic value aesthetic is that it is derived from a pleasurable experience of something to which we have adopted the aesthetic attitude.

Most aestheticians are keen to carve out the aforementioned distinctions between a 'broad' and 'narrow' concept of the aesthetic. The narrow view limits the aesthetic to the detection of aesthetic properties: formal features of the work with some relationship to the perceptible properties (see, for example, Carroll, 2012). For example, the vivacity and vibrancy of Kandinsky's Swinging (1925) are aesthetic properties arising from the formal and perceptible, perhaps 'lower-level', properties, which in turn invite an aesthetic experience, perhaps one of 'movement'. The broad view captures within the aesthetic, say, moral features (see, for example, Gaut, 2007 and Goldman, 2013) as they arise from this form. For the formalist, or narrow aestheticist, aesthetic value refers to either aesthetic properties in themselves, or is a relational value referring to the experience we have of them. For the broad theorist, as moral, political, or cognitive content is brought about through, and directly impacts our response to the form of the work, they can interact and shape aesthetic value. In Goldman's terms, cognitive and affective work, such as inference, theme detection, moral insight, and so on, are as much a part of the aesthetic experience as is the detection of aesthetic properties. Artworks "engage us on all levels" (Goldman, 2013, p. 331) and, in turn, their aesthetic value is affected as such.

In terms of the value of art, or artistic value, if we equate aesthetic value with artistic value, artistic value is going to be grounded in, too, the aesthetic, formal features of the work which is shaped by one's narrow or broad view. If we're not going to equate the two, then we can say that aesthetic value is one of many determinants of artistic value, bringing in other determinants such as cognitive value and moral value. These views come in nuanced forms, as we'll now see.

ii. The Relationship

For some aestheticians, the issue with coming to an adequate and appropriate account of the nature of artistic value and aesthetic value is derivative of the core issue of defining the very concepts aesthetic and artistic ( in section 1.b, we'll look at the relationship between the definition of art and the nature of artistic value). The thought is that if we construct an appropriate definition of, and relationship between, art and the aesthetic, all issues in aesthetics will slowly become enlightened.

As Hanson identifies, it is difficult to place Lopes' position and what it exactly amounts to, but broadly there are three kinds of positions one might take to get rid of (non-aesthetic) artistic value: error theory, eliminativism, and aestheticism. On the surface these might appear to be the same position, but there are subtle differences between the three, hence the confusion in Lopes' positioning. An error theory would claim that we are mistaken to talk about artistic value as there is no such thing as artistic value: "it appeals to a concept that does not exist" (Hanson, 2013, p. 494). Aestheticism - as Hanson is using the term - is a claim about aesthetic value and artistic value's identity, as well as a denial of pluralism about artistic value. Pluralism would allow for many values to be contributory towards artistic, and aesthetic in this case, value, for example, moral and cognitive value might interact with aesthetic value. The aestheticist, however, thinks aesthetic value and artistic value are the same, and that only aesthetic value is a determinant of artistic value. The use of aesthetic value, in this discussion, pertains only to formal, perceptible properties, rather than a broad construal that draws in cognitive and affective components as identified in section 1.a.i. The value of an artwork, then, is comprised by its aesthetic value and its aesthetic value only for the aestheticist. For the eliminativist, an identity relation is also placed between aesthetic value and artistic value as we are talking about the same thing. Talk of artistic value is redundant as it is just aesthetic value, rather than, as for the error theorist, talk of a non-existent concept. So, for the eliminativist, we have the concept of artistic value, but it's the same thing as aesthetic value. This position is endorsed by Berys Gaut (2007): aesthetic value is comprised by a pluralism of many different values, and artistic value is aesthetic value. The denial of pluralism, therefore, sets the aestheticist (only the formal matters for aesthetic value) and the eliminativist (only aesthetic value matters for artistic value, but other values may impact, or be drawn out through, form, i.e., aesthetic value) apart. That being said, an eliminativist need not be committed to pluralism.

It should be noted that some do hold that artworks can bear non-perceptual aesthetic properties. Shelley (2003) constructs such a case, arguing that it is a route scarcely travelled by aestheticists in the face of conceptual art. Instead, aestheticists tend to deny that conceptual artworks are art (an alternative is to deny that all artworks have aesthetic properties, but this is not a good move for the aestheticist!). Shelley expands aesthetic properties from the usual list - "grace, elegance, and beauty" - to include "daring, impudence, and wit" (2003, p. 373). This he does by drawing on a Sibley-inspired notion of aesthetic properties as striking us, rather than being inferred, and recognizing that it is false to say that properties that strike us rely on perceptible properties. As he writes, "ordinary urinals do not strike us with daring or wit, but Fountain, which for practical purposes is perceptually indistinguishable from them, does" (Shelley, 2003, p. 373). See Carroll (2004) for the same conclusion reached via alternative argument.

Notwithstanding, the conceptual and empirical dependency of the artistic upon the aesthetic is a popular view. Frank Sibley (1959; and, 2001 for a collected volume of his papers) proposed a priority of the aesthetic over the artistic: all that is artistic depends upon the concept of the aesthetic. Therefore, Sibley does indeed endorse the claim that anti-aesthetic art, by its very nature, depends on the concept of the aesthetic in order to retrieve its value as art. Andy Hamilton (2006), too, endorses a link of conceptual necessity between the aesthetic and the artistic. What he calls the reciprocity thesis is a conceptual holism between artistic and aesthetic; we cannot understand, or have the concept arise, of the artistic without the aesthetic. His case is that it is unfathomable to conceive of a settling community that views a sunset and does not at the same time decorate their homes with ornaments and fanciful designs.

b. The Definition and Value of Art

In addition, it is not the case that one needs to pick the explanatory side they deem more praiseworthy in cases of defining art procedurally or functionally, for one can commit to, as Abell (2012) does, a hybrid theory of art. A hybrid theory of art would be one that is both functional and procedural at the same time. The motivation for a hybrid (procedural and functional) theory is that it can potentially take on the extensional power of a procedural theory (encompassing within the category of artworks the right kind of thing) as well as the explanatory power of a functional theory (letting us know how and why we care about art).

2. The (Im-)Moral Value of Art

a. The Moral Value of Art

The interaction between moral and aesthetic and/or artistic value has received extensive treatment in the literature and with extensive treatment comes an extensive list of positions one might adopt. Another entry of the IEP also considers these positions: Ethical Criticism of Art. Nonetheless, the interaction is a considerable source of tension in philosophical aesthetics, and so I shall highlight and assess the key positions here. Roughly, the main positions are as follows. Radical Autonomists think that moral assessments of artworks are inappropriate in their entirety, that is, one should not engage in moral debate about, through, or from artworks. Moderate Autonomists think that artworks can be assessed in terms of their moral character and/or criticism, but this does not bear weight upon their value qua art, that is, their artistic value. Moralists think that a work's moral value is a determinant of its artistic value. Radical Moralists think that the moral assessment of an artwork is the sole determinant of its artistic value. Ethicists think that, necessarily, a moral defect in a work is an aesthetic defect, and a moral merit is an aesthetic merit. Immoralists think that moral defects, or immoral properties, can be valuable for an artwork qua art, they can contribute positively to artistic value.

It should be clear from this brief exposition that the varying terminology renders the debate rather murky. Some, such as Gaut, are arguing about moral value's encroachment on aesthetic value, whereas others are making claims in particular about artistic value. Todd (2007), for example, identifies that a significant part of the tension of ethical interaction is sourced from conflating aesthetic and artistic value. In addition, in different literature we see talk of moral value, moral properties, the morality of the artist, moral defects, aesthetic merits, artistic merits, and so on. In fact, it has been pointed out that the debate regarding immoralism (the claim that moral defects can be aesthetic/artistic merits) is marred precisely owing to the lack of consensus and terminological mud that is flown throughout the debate: no one has declared precisely what a moral defect is, and upon whom or what it falls (McGregor, 2014). A moral defect might be in the audience if they take up a flawed perspective, or it might be in the work's suggestion that that response be taken up, or it might be in the display of immoral acts, and so on. In keeping with the focus of this article, I will consider the debate in terms of artistic value, where someone who thinks aesthetic value and artistic value are one and the same thing will be claiming that there is an interaction between (im-)moral properties and aesthetic value (as artistic value). That is, we will keep in line with the general agreement that what is at stake is the effect of (im-)moral properties on the value of artworks qua artwork. I will refer to moral and immoral aspects of the work in terms of properties and defects/merits.

Let's start with the autonomist's claim. Two strands of autonomism are prominent: radical and moderate. The former suggests that any and all moral assessment of an artwork is completely irrelevant to the artistic domain. It is a conceptual fallacy to suggest that morality and aesthetics interact in any substantive way. The artwork is a pure, formal phenomenon that exists in a realm divorced from concerns such as morality and politics. Clearly, however, this view has become outdated. It may have been convincing in the heydays of movements such as art for art's sake, however, art has historically and, even more so in contemporary forms, been wrapped up with moral and political commentary, serving to criticize specific events, movements, and agendas. The latter strand, moderate autonomism, might find itself more palatable. This is the claim that the moral properties of a work have no interaction with its artistic value, but artworks can still be assessed in light of morality. On this view, then, Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will is good art, it is aesthetically and artistically valuable. However, in contrast to the radical autonomist, we may wish to assess the artwork in terms of a moral system, in which case Triumph of the Will is (very) flawed, but this does not have weight on our assessment of the film-documentary as art. The only thing that is relevant to the artistic value of Triumph of the Will is its aesthetic value, and on this view it is a good artwork.

The moralist, who thinks an interaction exists between moral value and artistic value, is likely to use these latter examples as motivations for their own view. In these cases, it looks like the very form of the work is in some sense determined by the moral attitudes and values explored. As such, the moralist will claim that "moral presuppositions [can] play a structural role in the design of many artworks" (Carroll, 1996, p. 233). Hence, if we're going to value artworks for their form and content, and in some cases this is dependent upon the moral claims, views, or theories employed in the work, then we need to accept that the moral value of a work is going to affect its value as an artwork.

Clearly, this is a very strong claim and so requires significant motivation. Gaut bases the endorsement of ethicism upon three arguments: the merited response, moral beauty, and a cognitivist argument, the first and second I explore here. A dominant version of the merited response argument runs as follows: artworks prescribe responses in their spectators/perceivers/readers derivative of their content, and their aesthetic success is determined by, at least in part, such a response to the work being merited. One way a response might be unmerited, at least in part, is if such a response is unethical. As the unethical response is the cause of a response being unmerited, and an artwork's success depends upon the response being merited, ethical defects are aesthetic defects and ethical merits are aesthetic merits (Gaut, 2007; Sauchelli, 2012). In sum, there is a direct correlation between a response being merited and the moral prescriptions such a response holds. The second argument, the moral beauty view, identifies that "moral virtues are beautiful, and moral vices are ugly" (Gaut, 2007, p. 115). From here, we can suggest that if a work has moral virtues-it has "ethically good attitudes"-then it has a kind of beauty. Beauty is, of course, canonically and paradigmatically an aesthetic value. Therefore, moral value contributes to aesthetic value. The argument, as Gaut suggests himself, is straightforward. To assess it requires an evaluation of the link between moral character and beauty which falls beyond the scope of this article. Readers should note Gaut provides a powerful case for the relation: see Gaut (2007, chapter six).

b. The Immoral Value of Art

The robust immoralist, by contrast, focuses on the aesthetic and artistic achievements upheld by the ability of a work to gather our appreciation of immoral characters (Eaton, 2012). Termed rough-heroes, these characters take on immoral adventures or acts in films, novels, TV shows, and so on, but for some reason we empathize with them, we like them, we might even fancy them. For example, we might sympathize with a character that is at the same time a murderer. For the robust immoralist, it is a formidable artistic achievement to place us into this juxtaposed attitude and, hence, morally defective works can be artistically valuable just insofar as they excel within this artistic technique (Eaton, 2012).

The immoralist falls into a similar issue to the moralist, however, insofar as they need to show that it is the immoral qualities qua immoral qualities that contribute to the artistic value (Paris, 2019; this paper represents a considerable attack on immoralism). For example, some have argued that there is a two-step relation between immoral qualities and artistic value. Against the cognitive immoralist, they argue that it is the cognitive value that contributes to the artistic value, rather than the immoral qualities themselves. Similarly, we might argue that it is the aesthetic achievement of the robust immoralist, and hence aesthetic value, that contributes to the artistic value, rather than the immoral qualities themselves. Hence, immoral qualities qua immoral qualities do not contribute to artistic value. Moreover, on this criticism, we could suggest that replacing the immoral qualities with qualities (perhaps moral qualities) that give rise to the same sort of aesthetic value and/or cognitive value will produce the same influence upon artistic value and so, again, it is not immoral qualities qua immoral qualities. An intriguing consequence of this kind of criticism of immoralism is that it penetrates the veracity of theories that argue moral properties contribute to artistic value. The artistic value is not located in the moral qualities qua moral qualities (since, presumably, they are replaceable with some properties that gather the same cognitive or aesthetic gain, too).

c. The Directness Issue

The trouble that arises from this kind of thinking is which values are we willing to take as fully and finally valuable qua art and not just because they determine some other value? Perhaps this can be cast as a significant motivator for aestheticism, and indeed Lopes' claim of the myth of non-aesthetic artistic value. Aesthetic value appears to be the only value on which there is universal consensus regarding its status as an artistic value. For moral/immoral interaction, it almost looks as if the burden always falls on the interactionist (who thinks that moral and aesthetic/artistic value interact) rather than the autonomist (who thinks they do not), in some unfair way.

Such a concern has been legitimated by Hanson (2019), who suggests that two dogmas have been pervasively present in the interaction debate: two conditions that an interactionist must meet, but that together are incompatible. Let's refer to these as the directness problem and the qua problem. Roughly, the directness problem highlights that those engaging in the interaction debate have implicitly assumed that the only way an interactionist can show that moral/immoral properties bear on the value of art is if they influence some other value, that subsequently influences artistic value. Hence, if the interactionist shows that moral properties gather cognitive value, which bring about artistic value, then they have proposed an indirect strategy. A direct strategy would be, say, the cognitive case, where cognitive value directly bears on artistic value. The second condition that the interactionist must meet is that it must show that it is the (im-)moral properties qua (im-)moral properties that bear the value of art (the qua problem). That is, not some other, intermediary value. Clearly, however, it is logically impossible to propose that something can affect something qua itself indirectly. That is, one cannot conjure an interactionist theory that suggest moral properties are indirectly contributory to artistic value whilst at the same time maintaining that it is the moral properties qua moral properties that contribute to artistic value. One cannot, then, conjure an interactionist theory that meets these simultaneous requirements, or dogmas.

3. The Cognitive Value of Art

There are four kinds of issue that cognitivists must overcome, with some addressing these different strands in a more targeted fashion. Gibson refers to these as the problem of unclaimed truths, missing tools of inquiry, the problem of fiction, and the nature of artistic creativity. The problem of unclaimed truths suggests that the truths found in artworks are borrowed from reality rather than revelatory of it. On this criticism, Guernica can't grant us knowledge about the bombing of Guernica because, simply, the bombing of Guernica needed to take place in order for the artwork to borrow from such a reality. The missing tools of inquiry objection suggests that, in contrast to other cognitive pursuits, artworks don't show us how to reach the knowledge, nor do they justify their truths, they merely show them. Picasso's Guernica, then, can say that bombing in civil wars can lead to civilian deaths which is an immoral circumstance, but it cannot tell us why. The problem of fiction argues that the truths artworks disclose, if they do at all, are truths of the fictional world of the artwork, rather than truths that come into contact with reality. Hence, Guernica can show us that bombing cities in civil wars is wrong in the fictional world of the painting, rather than in our world of reality; the leap from fiction to reality is too large a leap to make. Relatedly, the nature of artistic creativity objection argues that artists create artefacts that are meant for "moment[s] of emancipation from reality" (Gibson, 2008, p. 578), and so praising the artistic discipline requires distancing ourselves from reality. Artworks, then, should not be valued for their cognitive gain because it is precisely the purpose of art to detach us from reality, rather than impart knowledge about it.

It looks like the strongest weapon in the cognitivist arsenal is what Gibson calls neo-cognitivism: the view that artworks clarify, accentuate, enhance, or improve knowledge that we already hold. The cognitive value of art, then, is not its offering of discrete propositional knowledge, but its amplificatory role in our cognitive lives. It offers, for example, a new way of getting at some truth. This is the kind of view many aestheticians hold. Diffey (1995) offers a view he calls moderate anti-cognitivism, based on a middle point between Stolnitz's (1992) claim that there are no distinctive artistic truths and the cognitivist claim that new knowledge is gained through art. Diffey thinks, instead, that artworks can serve as ways of getting at a new contemplation of states of affairs. Thomson-Jones (2005), likewise suggests that artworks can grant us access to new ways of looking at some circumstances and/or states of affairs, particularly in the ethical and/or political domain. Indeed, Gibson, whose paper has been the substantial informant of this section, concurs that neo-cognitivism is the most promising way forward for the cognitivist.

In recent work, Currie (2020) has penetrated the claims of the cognitivist in a variety of forms, from the thought-experiment theorist, to the empathy cultivator, to those that think we can gain propositional knowledge, particularly in the context of literary fiction. Currie suggests a move away from knowledge acquisition in cognitivism to the more "guarded" term "learning" (2020, p. 217), arguing that the thought experiments contained within philosophical and scientific discourse offer an epistemic gain with which literary fiction cannot gain parity. He also casts significant doubt on the reliability of truths extracted from fiction, such as doubts of the expertise of authors, evidence of the disconnection between creativity and understanding, and the little support there is for "the practices and institutions of fiction" being bearers of truths (Currie, 2020, p. 198). Ultimately, Currie's conclusion suggests that "essential features of literary fiction - narrative complexity and the centrality of literary style - seriously detract from any substantial or epistemically rewarding parallel" (Lamarque, 2021), and hence that pursuit of the claim that "'fiction teaches us stuff' needs to be abandoned" (Currie, 2020, p. 218). Notwithstanding, Currie is sure to emphasize that he does not think that literary fiction cannot grant us knowledge tout court. Rather, the point is that learning can take place through fiction, but often this is marred with an increase in "ignorance, error, or blunted sensibility" (Currie, 2020, p. 216). Where learning does successfully take place, Currie does suggest that such cognitive gain is contributory to literary value.

With regard to empathic understanding and its improvement via literary fiction, Currie notes that empathy for fictional characters should not be taken in similar light to that of empathy in 'reality'. When empathizing with fictional characters, the success of such empathy is dependent upon our getting it right as the narrative tells of the characters (Currie, 2020, p. 201). A further distinction that should be drawn, Currie suggests, is that between on the one hand an increase in empathy, and on the other an increase in the capacity for this empathy to be used discriminatively and in a positive way (Currie, 2020, p. 204). Drawing on empirical literature, Currie argues the evidence of gain in positive empathic discriminatory capacities is lacking and so we should not be overly optimistic (Currie, 2020, pp. 207-209). Again, though, he does not exclude the possibility of positive gain being made in empathy as a result of fiction. Some may improve, some may not; some may grant a positive effect, some negative. One work could produce empathic gain for some individual, loss for another (Currie, 2020, p. 215-6). Currie's agenda regarding empathy cultivation through literature, therefore, is to warn against an over-optimism, as it was in his above cases about more classical cognitivist claims.

4. The Political Value of Art

a. Epistemic Progress

In light of the continued skepticism about what the cognitivist can and cannot claim, the views that art can give us experiential and/or propositional knowledge have decreased in popularity. However, in the context of contributions to political-epistemic progress, Simoniti (2021) has claimed that some art not only gives us propositional knowledge of the same standard as objective means (such as textbooks) of getting at epistemic progress, but that art sometimes has an advantage over these other forms. Put simply, Simoniti thinks that artworks can target political discourse and engender similar kinds of knowledge as do textbooks or news articles, without invoking special or peculiar art-specific knowledge - a now relatively unpopular view - alongside being able to plug a gap that objective discourse leaves open.

This is because objective discourse must deal with generalizations: people, events, political parties, and so on, are categorized and essentialized such that a view about the general commands the scope of the whole group. Through art, we come into contact with particularized, individual narratives and characters, following their stories or depictions. Consequently, artworks point out that sometimes the 'ideal spectator', abstracted away and taking an encompassing view of states of affairs, events, and groups, is not always the most beneficial standpoint. By allowing us to focus on individuals, artworks can become genuine contributions to epistemic progress through reducing over-confidence in our positions, recalibrating our critical capacities, and facilitating a neutral position (Simoniti, 2021, p. 569-570).

Most aestheticians would be willing to say that art can serve as political commentary or criticism, but not that this represents a specific value in and of itself. Rather, in similar fashion to Simoniti, it looks like the aesthetician would claim that this kind of value is cognitive value. That is, artworks contribute to our knowledge and understanding of politically meritorious and demeritorious states of affairs, raising our consciousness and awareness about them, and hopefully recalibrating our attitudes so as to realize the most sociopolitically beneficial states of affairs possible. This engenders, then, the assessment above regarding the interaction between cognitive value and artistic value, including whether art can genuinely bestow knowledge upon us. Alternatively, we might consider some political aspects of artworks to have effect upon their moral value, or indeed both the cognitive and moral value of the work.

Yet the debate regarding the political autonomy of art can become one that is much more entrenched. In this form, the debate concerns not whether artworks should be assessed in terms of their political content, but whether artists can or should involve political criticism or comment in the first place. The idea here is that the domain of art is supposed to be a realm of detachment from reality, not rendered 'impure' by external factors. Artworks are a source of disinterested pleasure, a way of escaping everyday life and the perils and anxieties we draw from it, appreciated solely for their form and the experiences that arise thereof. According to this kind of autonomist, artworks should not involve themselves with, and therefore feature, any political content. The task of art is to creatively detach from reality and serving political ends will only diminish that endeavor (for an edited collection on aesthetic and artistic autonomy, see Hulatt, 2013).

For some, such as W. E. B. Du Bois, the artwork and the political are inextricable: "all Art is propaganda and ever must be, despite the wailing of the purists" (Du Bois, 1926, 29). For Du Bois, art - especially at the time of his writing during the Harlem Renaissance - should be used for "furthering the cause of racial equality for African Americans" (Horton, 2013, p. 307), rather than being constructed to "pander to white audiences for the purposes of publication" (Horton, 2013, p. 308). The artist and their work cannot be severed from the ethical, political, and social environment within which they produce and operate, and the proposal of a detachment of the aesthetic and political is inimical to the cementing of extant progress in racial equality and rights (Horton, 2013). Art, then, should not be an autonomous avenue wherein politics is avoided and instead should be used as a political device.

b. The Pragmatic View

Finally, one might suggest that extant accounts of artistic value may indeed capture the artistic value of these works. Consider, for example, the moral beauty view of Gaut that we saw earlier. If we can observe an interaction between ethically meritorious character and action and aesthetic value, suggesting that the former are beautiful, then this could be used to apply to the ethically meritorious character and action of these relational works. Likewise, the functional beauty view, endorsed in particular by Parsons and Carlson (2008), suggests that aesthetic value can be attributed on the basis of something's appearance corresponding to its intended function. For example, a flat tyre is aesthetically displeasing because it appears as inhibiting the function of a car (Bueno, 2009, p. 47). Perhaps, we might claim, socially engaged works appear in a way that corresponds to their intended function. These two brief parses might suggest that the introduction of a specialized notion of artistic value may not be needed.

5. Summary of Available Positions and Accounts

There is a wealth of available views regarding artistic value, its determinants, its relationship to the value of art, its relationship to aesthetic value, whether and how determinants can affect it, and so on. Here, I want to provide a brief outline of the views discussed and available positions/accounts. The purpose is to provide a brief, working statement about the views at hand. This is especially useful as sometimes multiple different views can adopt the same heading term. This set is by no means exhaustive, may be incomplete, and will be updated as is seen fit.

Aestheticism - aesthetic value and artistic value are one and the same value, and only aesthetic value matters for determining artistic value (things like cognitive value, moral value, political value, don't matter for an assessment qua art).

Anti-cognitivism - there is no such thing as a distinctively artistic truth, or a truth that only art can teach us (see Stolnitz, 1992).

Cognitivism - artworks have something to grant to us in terms of knowledge. This might be new propositional knowledge, experiential knowledge, specifically artistic knowledge, or the artwork may clarify or strengthen already-held truths.

Cognitive Immoralism - moral defects in an artwork can be artistically valuable insofar as they provide some cognitive value (for example, cultivation of our moral understanding).

Eliminativism - aesthetic value and artistic value are one and the same thing, and as such talk of artistic value is redundant (things like cognitive value, moral value, and political value might matter for the eliminativist, if they commit to a broad notion of aesthetic value).

Immoralism - moral defects in an artwork can be aesthetic/artistic merits.

Interactionist - (about moral value) someone who thinks that the moral value of an artwork interacts with that artwork's aesthetic/artistic value.

Neo-cognitivism - artworks can be cognitively valuable, and their artistic value augmented as a result, insofar as they can serve to clarify or improve knowledge we already possess.

Pluralism about artistic value - there are many determinants of artistic value, such as aesthetic value, cognitive value, moral value, and political value.

Pragmatic View of Artistic Value - artistic value, explicitly and solely for the set of socially engaged artworks, is the positive cognitive, ethical, or political effect they entail. This view should not be used to apply to other kinds of art, such as painting, sculpture, music, and so on (see Simoniti, 2018).

Radical Moralism - the artistic value of a work of art is determined by, or reducible to, its moral value.

Robust Immoralism - moral defects in an artwork give rise to artistic value insofar as a work achieves aesthetic success through aesthetic properties that arise because of them. For example, fictional murder may be valuable insofar as it invites excitement, vivacity, or mystery.

The Trivial Theory (of artistic value) - artworks have lots of different determinant values, none of which are specific to, or characteristic of, art.

6. References and Further Reading

Abell, C. (2012) 'Art: What it Is and Why it Matters'. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. Vol. 85 (3) pp. 671-691

Bourriaud, N. (2009) Relational Aesthetics. Dijon: Les Presses du réel

Bueno, O. (2002) 'Functional Beauty: Some Applications, Some Worries'. Philosophical Books. Vol. 50 (1) pp. 47-54

Bullough, E. (1912) '"Psychical Distance" as a Factor in Art and an Aesthetic Principle'. British Journal of Psychology. Vol. 5 (2), pp. 87-118

Carroll, N. (1996) 'Moderate Moralism'. British Journal of Aesthetics. Vol. 36 (3), pp. 223-238

Carroll, N. (2004) 'Non-Perceptual Aesthetic Properties: Comments for James Shelley'. British Journal of Aesthetics. Vol. 44 (4) pp. 413-423

Carroll, N. (2012) 'Recent Approaches to Aesthetic Experience'. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. Vol. 70 (2) pp. 165-177

Carroll, N. (2015) 'Defending the Content Approach to Aesthetic Experience'. Metaphilosophy. Vol. 46 (2) pp. 171-188

Currie, G. (2020) Imagining and Knowing. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Davies, S. (1990) 'Functional and Procedural Definitions of Art'. Journal of Aesthetic Education. Vol. 24 (2) pp. 99-106

Davies, S. (1991) Definitions of Art. London: Cornell University Press

Dickie, G. (1964) 'The Myth of the Aesthetic Attitude'. American Philosophical Quarterly. Vol. 1 (1) pp. 56-65

Diffey, (1995) 'What can we learn from art?'. Australasian Journal of Philosophy. Vol. 73 (2) pp. 204-211

Du Bois, W. E. B. (1926) 'Criteria of Negro Art'. The Crisis. Vol. 32 pp. 290-297

Eaton, A. W. (2012) 'Robust Immoralism'. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. Vol. 70 (3) pp. 281-292

Gaut, B.(2007) Art, Emotion, Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Gisbon, J (2008) 'Cognitivism and the Arts'. Philosophy Compass. Vol. 3 (4) pp. 573-589

Goldman, A. (2013) 'The Broad View of Aesthetic Experience'. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. Vol. 71 (4) pp. 323-333

Hamilton, A. (2006) 'Indeterminacy and reciprocity: contrasts and connections between natural and artistic beauty'. Journal of Visual Art Practice. Vol. 5 (3) pp. 183-193

Hanson, L. (2013) 'The Reality of (Non-Aesthetic) Artistic Value'. The Philosophical Quarterly. Vol. 63 (252) pp. 492-508

Hanson, L. (2017) 'Artistic Value is Attributive Goodness'. The Journal of Aestheitcs and Art Criticism. Vol. 75 (4) pp. 415-427

Hanson, L. (2019) 'Two Dogmas of the Artistic-Ethical Interaction Debate'. Canadian Journal of Philosophy. Vol. 50 (2) pp. 209-222

Horton, R. (2013) 'Criteria of Negro Art'. The Literature of Propaganda. Vol. 1 pp. 307-309

Hulatt, O. eds. (2013) Aesthetic and Artistic Autonomy. New York: Bloomsbury Academic

Kant, I. (1987) Critique of Judgement translated by Werner Pluhar. Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company.

Kieran, M. (2003) 'Forbidden Knowledge: The Challenge of Immoralism' in Bermudez, L., Gardner, S. eds. (2003) Art and Morality London: Routledge

Kulka, T. (2005) 'Forgeries and Art Evaluation: An Argument for Dualism in Aesthetics'. The Journal of Aesthetic Education. Vol. 39 (3) pp. 58-70

Lopes, D. (2013) 'The Myth of (Non-Aesthetic) Artistic Value'. The Philosophical Quarterly. Vol. 61 (244) pp. 518-536

Lopes, D. (2018) Being for Beauty. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Matravers, D. (2014) Introducing Philosophy of Art: in Eight Case Studies London: Routledge

McGregor, R. (2014) 'A Critique of the Value Interaction Debate'. British Journal of Aesthetics. Vol. 54 (4) pp. 449-466

Parsons, G., Carlson, A. (2008) Functional Beauty. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Ryle, G. (1949/2009) The Concept of Mind: 60th Anniversary Edition Oxford: Routledge

Sauchelli, A. (2012) 'Ethicism and Immoral Cognitivism: Gaut versus Kieran on Art and Morality'. The Journal of Aesthetic Education. Vol. 46 (3) pp. 107-118

Shelley, J. (2003) 'The Problem of Non-Perceptual Art'. British Journal of Aesthetics. Vol. 43 (4) pp. 363-378

Shelley, J. (2019) 'The Default Theory of Aesthetic Value'. British Journal of Aesthetics. Vol. 59 (1) pp. 1-12

Sibley, F. (1959) 'Aesthetic Concepts'. Philosophical Review. Vol. 68 (4) pp. 421-450

Sibley, F. (2001) Approach to Aesthetics. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Simoniti, V. (2018) 'Assessing Socially Engaged Art'. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. Vol. 76 (1) pp. 71-82

Simoniti, V. (2021) 'Art as Political Discourse'. British Journal of Aesthetics. Vol. 61 (4) pp. 559-574

Stecker, R. (2019) Intersections of Value: Art, Nature, and the Everyday. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Stolnitz, J. (1960) Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art Criticism. Boston: Houghton Miffin

Stolnitz, J. (1978) '"The Aesthetic Attitude" in the Rise of Modern Aesthetics'. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. Vol. 36 (4) pp. 409-422

Stolnitz, J. (1992) 'On the Cognitive Triviality of Art'. British Journal of Aesthetics. Vol. 32 (3) pp. 191-200

Thomson-Jones, K. (2005) 'Inseparable Insight: Reconciling Cognitivism and Formalism in Aesthetics'. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. Vol. 63 (4) pp. 375-384

Van der Berg, S. (2019) 'Aesthetic hedonism and its critics'. Philosophy Compass. Vol. 15 (1) e12645

Author Information

Harry Drummond
Email: harry.drummond@liverpool.ac.uk
University of Liverpool
U.K.

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Philosophical discourse concerning the value of art is a discourse concerning what makes an artwork valuable qua its being an artwork. Whereas the concern of the critic is what makes the artwork a good artwork, the question for the aesthetician is why it is a good artwork.

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Learning: What is Art Good For? (Scholarly Paper)

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Learning: What is Art Good For? (Scholarly Paper)

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Here, we argue that a systematic neuroscientific study of art appreciation must move beyond understanding aesthetics alone, and toward investigating the social importance of art appreciation.

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Department of Cognitive Science, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Department of Philosophy, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Scientists, humanists, and art lovers alike value art not just for its beauty, but also for its social and epistemic importance; that is, for its communicative nature, its capacity to increase one's self-knowledge and encourage personal growth, and its ability to challenge our schemas and preconceptions. However, empirical research tends to discount the importance of such social and epistemic outcomes of art engagement, instead focusing on individuals' preferences, judgments of beauty, pleasure, or other emotional appraisals as the primary outcomes of art appreciation. Here, we argue that a systematic neuroscientific study of art appreciation must move beyond understanding aesthetics alone, and toward investigating the social importance of art appreciation. We make our argument for such a shift in focus first, by situating art appreciation as an active social practice. We follow by reviewing the available psychological and cognitive neuroscientific evidence that art appreciation cultivates socio-epistemic skills such as self- and other-understanding, and discuss philosophical frameworks which suggest a more comprehensive empirical investigation. Finally, we argue that focusing on the socio-epistemic values of art engagement highlights the important role art plays in our lives. Empirical research on art appreciation can thus be used to show that engagement with art has specific social and personal value, the cultivation of which is important to us as individuals, and as communities.
"What art does is to coax us away from the mechanical and toward the miraculous. The so-called uselessness of art is a clue to its transforming power. Art is not part of the machine. Art asks us to think differently, see differently, hear differently, and ultimately to act differently, which is why art has moral force."
- Jeanette Winterson ( Winterson, 2006)

Introduction

Traditionally, discussion of the nature of the arts and their role in our daily lives and communities lay within the purviews of criticism, art history, and philosophy. Within the last century, there has been a growing interest by psychologists and more recently, neuroscientists, to scientifically investigate art experiences and appreciation. Broadly, questions central to this investigation include:

(a) What happens when we experience a work of art? Specifically, what are the perceptual, emotional, and cognitive processes mediating our responses to art?

(b) Can one account for variations in taste? And if so, how does one's psychology and biology contribute to those preferences?

(c) What is common about the experiences one has across different forms of art? What is distinct?

(d) Are our responses to art universal or culturally and historically situated?

(e) Are art experiences pleasurable and how is the response distinct from other pleasurable experiences?

To scientifically investigate these questions, psychologists often ask viewers to rate the aesthetic appeal of an artwork, to rate their preferences for it compared to other artworks, and to indicate their emotional responses to various works. Typical questions might include: how much do you like the artwork; how aesthetically pleasing is the artwork; and how emotionally moving is the artwork? Researchers might then analyze the extent to which ratings reflect the formal features of that artwork-e.g., how balanced the composition is, how prototypical the depictions are, or perhaps how much the statistical structure within the image parallels natural scene statistics. As such, psychologists have identified a variety of formal features that seem to influence aesthetic and preference scores, including symmetry, color, contrast, aspect ratio, prototypicality, natural scene statistics, and complexity (e.g., Berlyne, 1971; McManus, 1980; Taylor et al., 1999; Shortess et al., 2000; Graham and Field, 2008; Schloss and Palmer, 2011). Similar questions have been explored in other domains of art including music and literature (e.g., Rentfrow and Gosling, 2003; Koopman and Hakemulder, 2015). Furthermore, many researchers have demonstrated that individual differences, be they stable or transient, can influence preferences and judgments. For instance, culture and experience (e.g., Reber et al., 2004; Bullot and Reber, 2013), expertise and knowledge (e.g., Winston and Cupchik, 1992; Silvia, 2006) and current emotional state (e.g., Eskine et al., 2012) shape judgments. Additionally, individual differences in perceptual capacities, such as visual-object working memory (VOWM) are associated with preferences for formal features such as visual complexity within visual artworks ( Sherman et al., 2015). These findings aim to illustrate the importance of accounting for the between and within subject variability in preferences, emotional responses, or beauty judgments.

A complementary approach, neuroaesthetics, is concerned with investigating the neurobiological substrates of aesthetic experience. For example, studies employing fMRI often task participants with making aesthetic or emotion-related judgments, and have demonstrated that art appreciation activates a distributed network in the brain subserving three core neural systems: sensory-motor, emotion-valuation, and meaning-knowledge. Important regions linked to aesthetic evaluation and preference for art include areas related to domain-specific processing such as the visual system for visual art (e.g., the lingual gyrus, middle occipital lobe), memory recognition (e.g., fusiform gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus), higher-order conceptual integration (e.g., anterior temporal lobe), emotion and reward (e.g., the anterior insula, caudate/striatum), valuation (e.g., anterior and ventromedial prefrontal cortices), and more recently metacognition (e.g., structures within the default mode network such as posterior cingulate cortex) (for reviews and meta-analyses, see Di Dio and Gallese, 2009; Brown et al., 2011; Chatterjee and Vartanian, 2014; Vartanian and Skov, 2014).

Notably, although the aesthetic sciences broadly concern themselves with explaining art appreciation, what can be gleaned from the above findings is that they have, up to this point, primarily investigated experiences of the aesthetic. That is, scientists have privileged investigating individual judgments of beauty or preference, many times ignoring socially-relevant outcomes of art appreciation or the social context of art creation and art appreciation. This is the the case within both the psychological and neuroaesthetics literatures. For example, neuroaesthetics research typically uses art (paintings, music, poetry, dance performance) as a stimulus to determine the neural mechanisms associated with preference, beauty, sublimity, and pleasure-based responses (e.g., Blood and Zatorre, 2001; Kawabata and Zeki, 2004; Vartanian and Goel, 2004; Jacobsen et al., 2006; Ishizu and Zeki, 2011; Lacey et al., 2011; Brattico, 2015).

Empirically investigating art appreciation in this way, however, risks conflating the arts with aesthetics. That is, it risks reducing the study of the nature of the arts to their ability to cause a particular feeling of disinterested joy or pleasure in a beholder. This reduction is reflected in (i) the way neuroaesthetics frames and understands art-namely, as an object that one contemplates and experiences in a disinterested manner, (ii) in the focus researchers place on measuring judgments related to beauty, liking, and pleasure as primary "outcomes" of the art experience, and (iii) in the contexts in which aesthetic experience is studied, often in labs on computers, removed from social and historical contexts, and in the visual arts, over short viewing times rarely exceeding 15 seconds.

Frameworks from the history of philosophical aesthetics and contemporary methodological discussion within empirical aesthetics can be particularly instructive for psychologists and neuroscientists interested in investigating the arts. As indicated above, philosophical attempts to define the nature of art by appeal to the kind of experience often studied by aesthetic science have been criticized for failing to fully capture or appreciate the social, cultural, or historical situatedness of the art-object or the person whose experience is being studied. Some empirical contextualist theories take a similar stance, recommending scientific investigations that go beyond the "basic exposure" mode of art appreciation, noting that the kind of knowledge one would gain from perceptual exploration removed from historical understanding is "shallow at best" ( Bullot and Reber, 2013). Rather, psychology must embrace an enriched understanding of art appreciation by investigating how, for example, an individual causally reasons about the observable features and attributions of an artwork, "mindreads" or attempts to cognitively model the artist and her intentions, experiences discovery or understanding-based emotions, and generates theories about the relevant content, form, and function of the artwork ( Bullot and Reber, 2013).

Our primary goal here is to argue that a systematic scientific study of art appreciation must explain the potentially broad-ranging and diverse social outputs of arts engagement, and thus, must go beyond measurements of aesthetic pleasure or liking. We advocate for the need to embrace an expanded empirical research program characterized by reframing the arts as socio-epistemically valuable -that is, specifically useful for gaining knowledge and insights about oneself and society. Importantly, we suggest that an empirical research program that recognizes the arts as social practices (which we expand in Section Arts-Appreciation as Socio-epistemically Valuable) can potentially unify prior research and more clearly specify the types of investigations needed to achieve a fuller understanding of art appreciation.

For instance, information-processing accounts of art appreciation aim to understand the relationship between inputs (e.g., formal features, transient individual differences like emotional or mood states, and more sustained individual differences in personality, culture, historical contexts, or expertise), processing mechanisms unfolding related to the art experience (e.g., the psychological and neurobiological substrates of perceptual, cognitive, and emotional processes, or disruptions to one's self-schema), and outputs (e.g., appraisals/judgments of liking, epiphany/transcendence, self/other-understanding; well-being). Fitting to our art-as-social-practice view, we suggest that researchers might begin to investigate the information-processing system through the lens of socially-related outputs, such as self and other understanding, rather than through the lens of aesthetic outcomes of art (see Table 1). That is, how do brain structures like the default mode network, which is recruited during art appreciation, contribute to socio-epistemic outcomes of art appreciation like self-understanding? This focus may reveal the need to develop experimental approaches better suited to evaluating the nature of the arts which recognize how creative practices and appreciation are cultivated socially, over long periods of time, and sustained both at the community and the personal level.

Table 1. Factors influencing art appreciation.

Below, we start by framing the arts as social practices that are embodied, enactive, and communicative. Although our art as social practice organization is not in contrast to information processing accounts, it importantly allows us to focus empirical evaluations on the cluster of skills that are developed through art appreciation. Among these skills, we focus specifically on those we refer to as socio-epistemic, and demonstrate that self- and other-understanding are both socially relevant and meaningfully cultivated through sustained art engagement.

Arts-appreciation As Socio-Epistemically Valuable

We begin by situating arts engagement, and specifically art appreciation, as a communicative, dialogic, dynamic, and transformative practice rather than as passive contemplation of beautiful, pleasurable, or otherwise aesthetically interesting objects. We argue that an "art as social practice" framing like this raises more relevant, interesting, and psychologically rich questions about the arts than does the traditional framing of art appreciation as reducible to aesthetic experience.

The Arts as Social Practices

In Art Rethought: The Social Practices of Art (2015), Wolterstorff argues that we should adopt MacIntyre's account of social practices as a framework for understanding the nature of the arts ( Wolterstorff, 2015). MacIntyre (1984) defines social practices as:

...coherent and complex form[s] of socially established cooperative human activity through which goods internal to that form of activity are realized in the course of trying to achieve those standards of excellence which are appropriate to, and partially definitive of, that form of activity, with the result that human powers to achieve excellence, and human conceptions of the ends and goods involved, are systematically extended (p. 187).

As forms of human cooperative activity, they exist within social groups, both large and small, and persist through time. Consider, for example, the social practice of portraiture, a genre of painting which depicts a human subject, often in which the face is the main theme. This genre has existed historically across many, varied communities, and the genre develops and is shaped by the cultural, economic, and moral commitments of various social groups, in addition to the artistic styles and technological developments within these communities. "Painting a portrait" is done with respect to norms, standards, and expectations of the genre that are, in an important sense, public. Moreover, these norms and standards constitute criteria for having created an excellent portrait. That is, we can individually and collectively deliberate and debate about whether some particular artwork is a portrait, or is a good portrait. Furthermore, accomplishments such as 'mastering the ability to depict a complex emotional expression in a two-dimensional medium' (Leonardo DaVinci's Mona Lisa), or 'successfully communicating the cruelty of poverty and dignity of poor people by rendering sympathetically and beautifully the humanity of someone who is poor' (e.g., Dorothea Lange's, Migrant Mother), are goods that can only be achieved through the practice of portraiture. Finally, the genre, itself, develops throughout time, within different communities. There are innovations in portraiture with respect to artistic style and with respect to technology. Consider, for example, how Henri Matisse's Green Stripe (Portrait of Madame Matisse) both radically departs from and conforms to the norms of the practice, or how the invention of photography changes and informs the meaning of "creating a portrait." Matisse's innovation and the development and use of photography for artistically depicting human faces, both enrich our understanding of the aims of art and the possibilities of human experience.

By following this emphasis on the arts as practices, we mean to shift attention to art creation and art appreciation as activities "we do," from the conception of art appreciation as passive reception of perceptual information from art-objects. In doing so, we do not commit ourselves to any particular theory or definition of art, be it the institutional view ( Danto, 1964; Dickie, 1974), which holds that artworks are artifacts that have been identified as such by persons appropriately situated with respect to "the artworld," or the historical ( Levinson, 1979) or narrative views ( Carroll, 1988), which hold that artworks can be identified by relationships to existing artworks. Instead, we follow these traditions, and others in anthropology and sociology (e.g., Becker, 1982; Dissanayake, 1990; Gell, 1998; Harrington, 2004), in their recognition that both arts appreciation and art creation, whatever they may be, are culturally situated within human communities. We contend that this very foundational and basic recognition is largely absent or significantly downplayed in current empirical work, and it is this sense of social-longstanding practices, embedded in the fabric and life of communities-that is foundational to our proposed framework.

The Arts and Socio-Epistemic Skills

One model for how to understand art appreciation as active engagement in a practice can be found in Kieran (2012). There, he argues that art appreciation is an intrinsically valuable skill that allows one to cultivate "excellences of character," because practiced arts engagement allows one to better imagine and critically examine not only aesthetic qualities of artworks, but also "artistic originality, emotional expression, insight and moral understanding." (p. 23) This notion of skill has a few different features that matter a great deal to an expanded empirical research program: (1) art appreciation is learned through sustained practice, suggesting its intrinsic relationship to the culture and community, or, at least, to other people; (2) is a capacity that is developed over non-trivial lengths of time; and (3) may be relevant to other domains, as skills can be transferable.

Drawing from other philosophical literature on art appreciation, we see a focus on what we refer to as socio-epistemic skills. Included in this category may be capacities like good judgment, richer sensitivity to detail, or, following Hume, "delicacy of imagination, good sense, comparative experience, and freedom from prejudice" ( Kieran, 2012, p. 23). What makes these skills social is their relationship to one's ability to better understand oneself and other people, and to potentially revise one's own moral, political, or social commitments. Although the mechanism for enhanced understanding of self and others is not fully theorized in the philosophical literature, it is often taken to be developing a kind of sensitivity to detail, context, or nuance (e.g., Murdoch, 1970; Nussbaum, 1990; Carroll, 1998).

Empirical research complements the philosophical framework above by helping us understand the mechanisms that underwrite the particular socio-epistemic skills of other-understanding and self-understanding. We choose to highlight self-understanding and other-understanding because they align well with what many think of art appreciation as doing: helping them see others and the world from a different point of view, altering their perspectives, and helping them to understand more about themselves (e.g., what moves them, or what makes them uncomfortable). At the same time, we do not mean to commit to any specific or direct causal pathways between cognitive processes, art appreciation, and other- or self-understanding. Rather, we mean to identify this as an open area of much needed investigation.

Before turning directly to this discussion, we also note that embracing this theoretical shift toward understanding the arts as social practices would allow us to explain how art appreciation is partially constitutive of living a flourishing human life. A longstanding empirical program has been to connect the arts (both appreciation and creation) to happiness, well-being, or flourishing. For instance, Cuypers et al. (2012) demonstrate through a large-scale population study that both art appreciation and art creation are associated with increased well-being (as measured by perceived health, life satisfaction, and anxiety and depression scores). Philosophical conceptions of eudaimonia contend that a flourishing human life centrally involves, at least, the use of skills or excellences of character the development of which are intrinsically rewarding, and the exercise of which are, thereby, pleasurable. Thus the shift we are recommending does not discount previous research, but rather, locates and explains the liking, preference, and pleasure responses to art-objects as well as the experience of being moved, as important aspects of the skill-based conception of art appreciation. This also allows us to strengthen arguments for the value of the arts that does not embrace crass instrumentalism, but rather, is capable of explaining the central role of the arts in human life ( Kieran, 2012). Moreover, regardless of whether one is committed to the broader eudaimonistic theory of well-being, or the claim that the development of human excellences and skills is central to that flourishing, those who hold that art appreciation is capable of developing the capacities and related skills of other-understanding and self-understanding are making empirical claims that empirical aesthetics can evaluate. To that end, a complete model of aesthetic appreciation will also need to contend with these claims and find a place for these socio-epistemic "outputs" in their models.

In the sections that follow, we use philosophical discussions to frame and suggest two lines of empirical inquiry within this theoretical orientation of the arts as social practices. The first, self-understanding, discussion of which is nascent in both the psychological and philosophical literatures, asks whether and how art appreciation as a practice can lead to a richer understanding and appreciation of one's own moral values, commitments, and conception of who and what one is. The second, other-understanding, more fully developed in both literatures, asks whether and how art appreciation as a practice can lead to a better understanding of the emotional and cognitive states of others, and the potential moral and social value of such an understanding. We conclude with a discussion of how such a research program may be envisioned and developed moving forward.

Art Engagement As a Path to Self-Understanding

As discussed above, in this section we attempt to lay a foundation for a line of inquiry into how self-understanding may be enhanced by engaging in practices of art appreciation, as part of our suggestion that conceptualizing the arts as social practices would be an appropriate and fruitful framework for psychologists and neuroscientists to embrace.

Philosophical Conceptions of the Relationship between Art Appreciation and Self-understanding

In philosophy, the term "self-knowledge" often refers to knowledge of one's own mental states-that is, knowledge of our own beliefs, thoughts, or sensations. In contrast, "knowledge of the self" can refer to knowledge or understanding of one's "self" and its nature. Following Gertler (2015), we may include under this heading four different debates about our understanding of ourselves, as selves: the nature of self-identification (i.e., one's ability to distinguish one's self from others); whether self-awareness is a mechanism for grasping the nature of the self; whether self-awareness is a means to grasping one's personal identity over time; and, whether and what sort of self-understanding is necessary for rational or moral agency.

Insofar as engagement with the arts is able to enhance some notion of self-understanding, it fits most comfortably within this final debate: the sort of self-understanding necessary for rational or moral agency. Martin (1985), providing one way of enriching this "necessary for agency" conception, claims that self-understanding is an achievement. He explains that developing a "justifiable and meaningful perspective on our lives" often calls for "appropriate adjustments in attitude, emotion and conduct," and realizing these things is something that we work for, or that we strive to accomplish. (p. 2) Relevant to this kind of self-understanding is what we may refer to as "self-identity"-"individuals' subjective senses of who they are-their own self-images" ( Martin, 1985, p. 5). Further, we may consider the heart of self-identity as a set of commitments or values-be they intellectual, artistic, moral, or religious-that organize individuals' behavior, attitudes, and beliefs. Someone who has proper self-understanding not only recognizes and affirms her central commitments and values, but also acts and feels according to these commitments and values. In this way self-understanding is a socio-epistemic skill because one's ability to recognize and act on her central values (e.g., feel and act compassionately) concerns a social ability. The content of the values or commitments substantially refer to other people, institutions, histories, and communities, and the attitudes and behaviors indicated are learned and exhibited within communities and relationships.

Philosophers who defend the view that art appreciation is a form of moral understanding can inform our conception of how art appreciation may enhance self-identity and self-understanding. A particularly influential view is Noël Carroll's clarificationism ( Carroll, 1988). Unlike the sciences, which allow individuals to acquire new propositional knowledge, Carroll argues art appreciation is capable of deepening our existing knowledge, something he refers to as "understanding." Carroll suggests that the narrative arts, in particular, encourage us to apply our moral knowledge and emotions to a specific case, which aids in the development of our capacity to manipulate, refine, or clarify what we know, and to then intelligibly apply that knowledge. Carroll uses the example of Crime and Punishment to explain this point. It would be absurd to claim that the reader learns the truth of the proposition "murder is wrong" from her reading of the novel. In fact, it may be that a reader would already need to have this bit of propositional knowledge in order to make sense of the novel in the first place. Yet, engagement with the novel can be a source of moral understanding and self-development. Engagement may help give shape to, clarify, or deepen one's understanding of the horror of killing, and of the nature or importance of guilt, redemption, and moral character. Moreover, insofar as these moral beliefs and values are part of the central commitments and values that constitute your self-identity, engagement with the novel can help you know yourself better.

That art is a context for deepening understanding rather than gaining propositional knowledge is also taken up by Lopes (2005). There he argues that the kind of seeing ("seeing-in") cultivated by practiced visual art engagement enriches moral sensibility by enriching the suite of intellectual resources that make the viewer reliable at discriminating morally relevant features of situations. (p. 180) Part of the moral sensibility Lopes describes includes what he refers to as a repertoire of moral concepts (e.g., solidarity, grief, violation). Some visual art, though not all according to Lopes, can be used to deepen and understand those concepts. In this way, some visual art can communicate moral ideas in new or challenging or poignant ways that cause one to revise an important or closely held moral value, and thus, can be important to developing one's self-understanding.

Although the philosophical discussion of self-understanding or transformation through engagement with the arts primarily concerns moral or social knowledge, we see no reason to believe it must be limited to these contexts. The focus on moral knowledge in the philosophical literature may be occasioned by the felt need to distinguish the arts from the sciences as a means of knowing, as the latter tend not to have this moral or social focus. However, we may think of the arts as a path to non-moral self-understanding as well, or, as above, as about non-moral yet central commitments and understandings important to our self-identity. For example, the works displayed during the 2013-2014 Los Angeles County Museum of Art retrospective of the work of Light and Space artist James Turrell, were described by many (critics and lay people alike) as transformative. The immersive light environments cause one's own perception to become the object of reflection, and led many to a deeper understanding of themselves and their relationship to the external world, deepening their conception of themselves as embodied beings whose access to the world is mediated by a visual perceptual faculty with particular features, limitations, and abilities, and of light, itself, as a physical substance. This fact (that perception is mediated by light) is not one that people learn from this exhibit; people learn that in middle school science classes. But being confronted with artistic works that exploit and make manifest this fact nevertheless affords viewers an understanding of the significance of this fact.

Enhanced Self-understanding through Art Appreciation: Empirical Evidence

As in the philosophical literature, there also seems to be limited work in the psychological literature focused on the importance of art engagement in cultivating self-understanding, although research on self-reflection may speak to the psychological mechanisms that make possible the socially-relevant conception of self-identity as described above. Following Koopman and Hakemulder (2015), self-reflection refers to "thoughts and insights on oneself, often in relation to others and/or to society" (p. 82). This type of introspection often relates to one's emotions (e.g., monitoring current states and/or comparing those states to prior states), memories, values, and beliefs, and is associated with positive consequences (e.g., better mental health, well-being, increased capacity for self-regulation).

The literary arts are a domain in which self-reflection has received more comprehensive attention. Koopman and Hakemulder review evidence suggesting that self-reflection is elicited when one reads literary texts characterized by unconventional syntax or semantic features. Specifically, they review empirical work showing that self-reflection occurs in scenarios in which "(i) [reader's] previous personal experiences are evoked by descriptions of characters, places and events, (ii) [in which] readers experience emotional responses to the characters, and (iii) [in which] readers perceive the text itself, the artifact, as striking" (p. 95). Self-reflection elicited through reading in these contexts is likely to relate to one's self-understanding and identity both in moral and non-moral contexts. Similarly, some members of the medical community have embraced the idea that the literary and narrative arts facilitate self-reflection. Brady et al. (2002) posit that practicing self-reflection outside of a clinical context, and particularly through art appreciation, could lead to better doctor-patient relationships and, thereby, better patient outcomes.

With respect to visual art, research in neuroaesthetics has also suggested that when engaging with artworks that are emotionally moving and potentially transformative, individuals may have an inward, self-reflective focus. Here, being moved refers to "intensely felt responses [such as tears or chills] to scenarios that have a particularly strong bearing on attachment-related issues-and hence on prosocial bonding tendencies, norms, and ideals-ranging from the innermost circle of one's personal life ... to higher-order entities of social life (one's country, social and religious communities)" ( Menninghaus et al., 2015, p. 8; see also Hanich et al., 2014; Wassiliwizky et al., 2015, 2017a). Recent work by Wassiliwizky et al. (2017b) suggests, for example, that poetry containing a socio-cognitive component (e.g., prose addressing other people or personifying nature) is particularly moving, leading to chills and a response in brain areas involved in self-reflection (e.g., precuneus). When an artwork moves a beholder, she likely experiences an intense emotional response as well as explicitly reflects on her experience, potentially exercising self-understanding (as well as other-understanding, which we expand on in the next section). In this way, understanding the experience of being moved (rather than just focusing on aesthetic evaluation) indicates a promising avenue of research for neuroaesthetics to develop in line with our recommendation to adopt a social practice model.

Indeed, Vessel et al. (2012, 2013) have demonstrated that during intensely moving aesthetic experiences, the default mode network-a network of brain areas including the precuneus, medial frontal cortex, inferior parietal cortex, and medial temporal cortex known to be involved in self contemplation, self reflection, and self-referential thought-is recruited. In Vessel et al.'s (2012, 2013) studies, participants were tasked with attending to a set of visual artworks and judging how moving each one was while their brain activity was recorded in a scanner. Their finding that DMN activity was higher for artworks rated as highly moving relative to those rated lower on the scale may be interpreted as an inward, self-reflective focus that co-occurs with or is prompted by being emotionally moved. Additionally, this finding is consistent with research demonstrating that the DMN is recruited during other self-referential types of tasks involving self-identity (namely, making judgments about yourself or close others), moral decision-making, and theory of mind attributions ( Northoff and Bermpohl, 2004; Northoff et al., 2006).

Psychologists have also described models that center the idea that art appreciation recruits metacognitive processes and promotes self-reflection and transformation. For example, Pelowski and Akiba (2011) (see also Pelowski, 2015; Pelowski et al., 2017) argue that influential empirical studies of aesthetic experience focusing on understanding the processes which lead to cognitive mastery of an artwork along with perceptual pleasure are "often divorced from a viewer's personal beliefs and identity" and "preclude the possibility for art to [truly] mark and transform lives" (p. 81) namely because they do not directly address discrepant experiences during an art encounter. According to Pelowski and Akiba's account, the self-reflective processing that occurs when a beholder's expectations have been violated (e.g., confusion about meaning) marks the beginning of a meta-cognitive re-assessment of an artwork, eventually leading to self-schema transformation. Similarly, Lasher et al. (1983) argue that the arts are central for mental and emotional growth because they offer opportunities for representational conflicts that, when resolved (in their case, often unconsciously) provide a way to restructure and unify initial mental representations. The process of defamiliarization, "becoming unsettled," and self-reflecting, then may be crucial to deepening self-understanding.

In a more recent paper, Pelowski (2015) offered an empirical approach to studying art experiences as they relate to self-transformation and understanding. Specifically, Pelowski suggests that feeling like (or actually) crying during an art experience is a physical indicator of self-reflection, shifted perspectives, and self/schema changes. As a first foray into testing his model, Pelowski conducted a series of exploratory studies at several museums collecting both physiological data and self-reports from museum-goers. He demonstrated that feeling like crying while viewing art is correlated to increased self-awareness, feelings of epiphany and insight, as well as to mixed emotions corresponding to being moved. Although his empirical findings are specific to the visual arts, his model broadly appeals to all arts, as tears or chills responses are pervasive across all arts domains ( Pelowski, 2015). Pelowski's approach is particularly instructive as it offers a means to frame socio-epistemic skills such as self-understanding within information-processing accounts, arguing for the importance of empirically investigating how each processing stage corresponds to self-related outcomes.

Importantly, these ideas are markedly different from the more typical information-processing accounts of aesthetic experience (e.g., Leder et al., 2004 or Chatterjee, 2004), which focus more on successful assessment of an artwork's formal information (perceptual and cognitive mastery) in the service of emotional appraisals. This traditional approach de-centers the importance of self-reflection or cognitive growth as an outcome or aspect of art appreciation. In contrast, the paradigm we suggest (which parallels Pelowski's) posits that although detached, the contemplative pleasure, which may be an outcome of art appreciation, is not valuable merely for its own sake, but also instrumentally valuable for deepening one's self-understanding.

Although the reviewed studies are not direct evidence that self-understanding is developed by art appreciation, they suggest, at least, that self-reflection, a process relevant to cultivating self-understanding, is prompted by moving art experiences. More research will be needed to understand the extent to which and how neural mechanisms correlated to self-referential processing are recruited during art appreciation. Candidate regions for investigation are those within the cortical midline structures including the orbitomedial prefrontal cortex (OMPFC) implicated in the continuous representation of self-referential stimuli and in processing emotional stimuli independent of sensory modality, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) implicated in evaluation of self-referential stimuli, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) implicated in monitoring of self-referential information, and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and adjacent precuneus thought to be involved in self-reflection and the integration of self-related representations (e.g., Northoff and Bermpohl, 2004). The partially overlapping default mode network as described above will also be critical to evaluate in the context of art appreciation.

Art Engagement as a Path to Understanding Others

Turning away from self-understanding, in this section we lay a foundation for a line of inquiry into how other-understanding may be enhanced by engaging in practices of art appreciation. Though here we highlight self- and other-understanding as separate socio-epistemic skills, we also point to the importance of investigating these "outcomes" as highly related. As before, the aim of this section is to build our suggestion that conceptualizing the arts as social practices would be an appropriate and fruitful framework for psychologists to embrace.

Philosophical Conceptions of the Relationship between Art Appreciation and Other-Understanding

Philosophers of art commonly contend that art appreciation enables us to understand others better by encouraging us to take on their viewpoints, to metaphorically take a walk in their shoes, to feel their pain. Through art appreciation we can understand ourselves as connected to one another, by recognizing others' emotions, actions, and perceptions as fundamentally similar to our own, or, more dramatically, by feeling others' emotions. For instance, in Cohen's (1993) discussion of his ambivalence toward ontological questions about the nature of art and the distinction between high and low art, he describes a memorial service in which his friend's favorite musical selections were played. Reflecting on the meaningfulness and appropriateness of this practice of playing music that someone cared for at their funeral, Cohen writes:

My friend has died and is not present. I listen to music I know he cared for. It is a fact about my friend that he cared for this music, perhaps even a constitutive fact about his sensibility: it partially defines who and what he was. It is, thus, an entrance into that sensibility. I sit listening, not merely thinking that this music meant something to my friend, but bending my imagination to the task of reaching and comprehending an aspect of my friend which responded to this music, that is, feeling what it was to be my friend (p. 154).

Here, Cohen understands artistic appreciation not only as (appropriately) playing a central role in an important social ritual of mourning, but also, or perhaps because it is one way of being in community with someone else. In this case, the mind, sensibility, or self of the person who is no longer present is accessible through attending closely to the music he loved. Similarly, Joseph Conrad characterizes the emotional sharing involved in artistic activity as:

the subtle but invincible conviction of solidarity that knits together the loneliness of innumerable hearts; to the solidarity in dreams, in joy, in sorrow, in aspiration, in illusions, in hope, in fear, which binds men to each other, which binds together all humanity-the dead to the living and the living to the unborn (cited in Goldie, 2008, p. 192).

This notion, that the arts are an arena for interaction and potential emotional sharing between artists, beholders, and other past, present, and future beholders has an important history stretching back to at least Tolstoy (1899), if not to Aristotle.

The kind of interaction or connection art facilitates has been thought to lead to a fuller and morally important understanding of others and oneself. Kieran (1996) develops a notion of "imaginative understanding," a skill promoted by the arts, as striving to "appreciate what the appropriate way of looking at and acting in the world is...typically...the appropriate way to feel for, to regard, and to respond to others" (p. 341). In this way, art appreciation, by promoting imaginative understanding, facilitates good moral judgment by enhancing our moral perception and sensibilities, especially with respect to the lived experiences of other people.

Developing a similar line of thought, some scholars have suggested that reading literary fiction creates aesthetic distance, which "allow[s] [readers] to experiment more freely with taking the position of a character different from themselves, also in moral respects" ( Koopman and Hakemulder, 2015, p. 92). That is, the dynamic process occurring during art appreciation is a form of socio-cognitive and emotional training, granting viewers the "time and privacy to learn to deal more strategically with" real life scenarios in a safe, "distant" space (this idea has been discussed by Oatley, 1999, 2016; Robinson, 2005; de Botton and Armstrong, 2013; Koopman and Hakemulder, 2015; Menninghaus et al., 2017). Despite this "distance" or, perhaps because of it, one can become deeply invested in fictional characters, emotionally engaging with them, and generating cognitive models of character's minds, just as one does in real social scenarios.

That arts appreciation can deepen one's moral landscape by cultivating other-understanding is an empirical claim with potentially far-reaching consequences. This idea has served as a theoretical foundation for arts-based therapies aimed at developing, for example, autistic children's social skills and theories of mind (see: arttherapy.org). Perhaps most robustly, as we briefly mentioned, in recent decades medicine has increasingly turned to the arts to help students and professionals cultivate proper self- and other-regarding dispositions ( Shapiro et al., 2009). For example, Columbia University's Masters of Science curriculum in Narrative Medicine uses the arts and humanities to "imbue patient care and professional education with the skills and values of narrative understanding" (see: http://ce.columbia.edu/narrative-medicine). Some have suggested that arts-based interventions help physicians become more empathic and culturally-sensitive, which then leads to better patient health outcomes (e.g., Novack et al., 1997, pp. 502-509), whereas others have focused on the importance of reflection and imagination for developing insight, emotional understanding of patients, or other valuable "patterns of knowing" (e.g., Berragan, 1998; Rodenhauser et al., 2004; Averill and Clements, 2007).

These theoretical applications demonstrate the importance of reviewing the available empirical evidence that aligns with an argument that art appreciation cultivates other-understanding, the importance of understanding the psychological mechanisms underlying other understanding, as well as the importance of establishing norms for empirically investigating more fully the socio-epistemic outcomes and values of art appreciation.

Enhanced Other-Understanding through Art Appreciation: Empirical Evidence

Psychological research suggests that there are (at least) two related ways we can come to understand other people and their experiences: (i) cognitively, and (ii) emotionally "resonating" with others' experiences. Cognitive empathy, also often called "cognitive perspective-taking," "theory of mind," "mentalizing," or "mindreading," refers to an individual's capacity to model others' experiences by making inferences about their intentions and predictions about future actions based on that mental representation. Although this cognitive process reflects one's capacity to model other people's minds, it crucially does not require emotional investment (e.g., I may understand that you are anxious but I do not feel that way myself).

Another way, then, to understand other people is to have an "insider" view by actually experiencing what the other person is experiencing. This "catching" of another person's experience is what most scholars refer to as empathy. Although there are many definitions for empathy in the psychological and philosophical literature (see Batson, 2009), most scholars broadly agree that there are two key criteria characterizing empathic responses. Firstly, empathy involves an affective capacity to recognize and resonate with others' emotions (also widely called "emotional contagion" or "affect sharing"). The affective response should be isomorphic with another person's affective state ( Eisenberg and Fabes, 1990; De Vignemont and Singer, 2006). That is, one must experience the same emotion as another person, rather than simply respond emotionally to someone else's emotion (e.g., happiness in response to someone else's misfortune would not be isomorphic). This isomorphism is emphasized in the literature as distinct from related phenomena such as sympathy, which may be emotionally powerful but is usually thought of as feeling "for" rather than feeling "with." Secondly, empathy should involve an awareness of the source of one's affective response; that is, a mechanism to distinguish between self and other. Imitation or emotional contagion alone, seen even in young infants, does not then reflect empathy (e.g., De Vignemont and Singer, 2006), as true empathy requires a more developed sense of self, agency, and other. Here, we will refer to this process as affective empathy.

Echoing the philosophical discussion above, a wide empirical research program has suggested the social and moral importance of both affective empathy and cognitive empathy, arguing that they are critical for social development and successful social interaction. Individuals with impaired (or a lack of) affective empathy are often characterized as psychopathic (e.g., Hare, 1991 as cited in Blair, 2005), and individuals with impaired theory of mind, a characteristic of autism, exhibit a host of social deficits including difficulties communicating, understanding others' thoughts and desires, recognizing and imitating others' facial expressions, among other issues (e.g., Blair, 2005). Moreover, although there might sometimes be negative consequences of increased empathy (e.g., favoring social "in-groups"; in Bloom, 2017 even goes to suggest that empathy has more costs than benefits), cognitive and affective empathic capacities in many ways provide a foundation for moral behaviors ( Decety and Cowell, 2015). For instance, even short-term manipulations of cognitive perspective-taking can lead to increased feelings of social affiliation, perceived similarity, perceived closeness, intergroup understanding, desire to engage in intergroup contact, and to prosocial behaviors such as increased cooperation, sharing, comforting, and helping even in situations where prosocial attitudes might be more difficult to adopt (e.g., Stephan and Finlay, 1999; Bodenhausen et al., 2009; Wang et al., 2014).

In addition to its social importance, empathy provides an individual with knowledge about the environment without having to actually experience it oneself; for example, seeing someone get burned when they touch a hot stove or get bruised when they fall on a pavement is informative enough to attach appraisals to those situational contexts without having to experience the pain oneself ( De Vignemont and Singer, 2006). This characteristic of empathy resonates with the aesthetic distance conception of fiction above, explaining how art appreciation could be a "safe space" for understanding others' difficult or taxing emotional experiences.

If art appreciation indeed enhances other-understanding, it would be reasonable to expect that we would find evidence, at least in some contexts, that engaging with art, be it viewing visual art, reading literature, or listening to music, recruits mechanisms associated with cognitive and affective empathy. For example, there may be evidence demonstrating that the neural mechanisms implicated in affective or cognitive empathy during real social interactions are also engaged when "interacting" with visual art or with fictional characters. Furthermore, art appreciation should mirror findings within the social interaction literature, such that after art-appreciation-based manipulations, we may find increases in self-reported perceived similarity and closeness, and perhaps increased degree of prosocial behavior exhibited toward an individual. Finally, we should expect that repeated "practice" or engagement with arts would develop empathy, perhaps changing aspects of one's disposition, personality, and capacity to empathize in future situations. Below, we review empirical evidence in line with each of these predictions, with the aim of demonstrating the promise and possibilities of the shift to a social practice framework in neuroaesthetics.

Simulation, Embodiment and Arts-Engagement: Neural Mechanisms

Some researchers within neuroaesthetics have begun to reconsider arts engagement as a fully embodied, enactive experience (e.g., Freedberg and Gallese, 2007; Nadal et al., 2012), with empirical evidence suggesting the involvement of neural processes related to both perspective-taking and affective empathy during art appreciation. One such model of the role of embodied responses to visual arts is presented by Freedberg and Gallese (2007). They suggest that embodied responses occurring during art appreciation are forms of cognitive and affective simulations and, as such, play a role in facilitating an understanding of both the representational content of an artwork and of the intentions of the artist. Freedberg and Gallese provide several examples demonstrating that viewers have physical, "felt" responses to visual representations, even if those representations are abstract. For instance, the authors speculate that viewing a painting like Caravaggio's Incredulity of Saint Thomas, in which a man is poking at someone else's wound, or experiencing Michelangelo's Prisoner's, in which the figures appear "trapped" in the material out of which they are sculpted, leads to embodied responses of physical pain in the beholder. Moreover, elements within a visual artwork that simply imply the gestures used by the artist (e.g., canvas cuts as in artist Lucio Fontana's work, or Jackson Pollock's drip paintings) can also strongly activate the motor cortex, and are thus felt by beholders as actions ( Battaglia et al., 2011; Umilta et al., 2012).

More evidence for action simulation during art viewing is provided by Leder et al. (2012) who demonstrate that we covertly simulate actions produced by a visual artist while we engage with the work. That is, when viewing work by Georges Seurat, for example, we may covertly "stipple" our hands, whereas while viewing art by Vincent Van Gogh, we may covertly create broader strokes with our hands. Interestingly, when the researchers experimentally manipulated participants motions to either be explicitly aligned or misaligned with painting style, preference scores were affected. That is, participants in congruent groups (stippling while viewing works in the Pointillist tradition or stroking while viewing works with strong brushstrokes) reported liking the artworks more than those in incongruent groups suggesting that incongruent motions interfered with motor resonance ( Leder et al., 2012). Researchers have similarly discussed the role of embodiment with respect to music as well as the literary arts. For instance, research has demonstrated that we develop embodied understanding of characters within a literary text (for comprehensive reviews see Koopman and Hakemulder, 2015; Oatley, 2016). One such example is seen in Hsu et al. (2014) who demonstrate that immersion or "getting lost in" emotion-laden literary text-in their case, fear-inducing compared to neutral excerpts from the Harry Potter series-leads to increased activation of the medial cingulate cortex, a structure associated with affective empathy.

Together, this research suggests that engagement with visual art may prompt beholders to mentally simulate artists' actions, and to "feel" the actions and emotions depicted in a work. Although we do not mean to suggest that simulation alone implies social understanding, as is evidenced by the fact that even very young infants (or primates) imitate without a developed theory of mind (e.g., Heyes, 2001 for review) it seems to have clear social value. Thus, embodied responses (what some refer to as "feeling into" art) may prompt meaning-making and explicit reflection (e.g., Pelowski, 2015). Importantly however, the extent to which mirroring, simulation, and empathy affect art appreciation and even aesthetic evaluation remains understudied.

The neural processes that are implicated in embodied emotion and action simulation, namely a medial frontotemporal network involving recruitment of the bilateral anterior insula, the dorsal and middle anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), as well as a mirror-neuron system (MNS), are implicated in empathy and theory of mind, and are important for representing both our own and others' actions (e.g., Decety and Grèzes, 2006). For example, Wicker et al. (2003) show that overlapping areas of the ACC are activated when one is imagining, observing, and expressing a disgusted facial expression. Similarly, Morrison et al. (2004) showed overlapping activation in the anterior insula and ACC both when a person was in physical pain and when she was viewing someone else in pain. These responses can be modulated by a variety of factors, including dispositional/trait empathy, relationship between empathizer and target, situational context, and emotional context (e.g., De Vignemont and Singer, 2006). For example, in one study, electromyography was used to demonstrate that people with high affective trait empathy were more likely to automatically imitate happy and angry pictures of faces during passive viewing than people with low affective trait empathy ( Rymarczyk et al., 2016).

(Pro)social Effects of Art Appreciation

Further, psychologists have demonstrated both correlational and causal effects of reading narrative on various measures of empathy. Measures of empathy in these cases include the "Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test," which probes one's ability to discern another individual's thoughts from their eyes alone (RMET; Baron-Cohen et al., 2001), or the Yoni test, which asks participants to identify others' affective and cognitive states from facial expressions ( Shamay-Tsoory and Aharon-Peretz, 2007). Researchers have demonstrated that individuals who spend more time reading literary or narrative fiction compared to non-fiction tend to score higher on such tests suggesting that extended "practice" reading narrative fiction may cultivate one's capacity for understanding others (e.g., Mar et al., 2006; Panero et al., 2016). And, a recent series of experiments by Kidd and Castano (2013) demonstrated that individuals who were tasked with reading a "literary" short story that is characterized by unconventional syntax, ambiguity, and semantic features scored higher on the RMET and Yoni tasks after the reading exercise compared to those who read a popular fiction or nonfiction short story. This finding demonstrates that even brief exposure to the arts might promote other-understanding.

Importantly, empathy-related processing during arts appreciation across domains (e.g., beyond just the literary arts) also seems to lead to increased prosocial behavior. For example, Sze et al. (2012) demonstrated that after watching film clips that induced empathetic concern, individuals tended to be more charitable. Interestingly, these prosocial effects were partially mediated by age such that older participants were more charitable than their younger counterparts. Although not directly related to film appreciation per se (as film in this case was merely a stimulus meant to elicit empathetic concern), it is suggestive both of the power of film and the cultivation of prosocial tendencies with art experience. Film's power to move the viewer in this way has also been associated with increased feelings of intergroup connectedness and understanding ( Oliver et al., 2015). Likewise, some research suggests that chills induced by music lead to more altruistic behavior, though more research is needed to tease apart the influence of factors like mood ( Fukui and Toyoshima, 2014). Taken together, these findings suggest the importance of a continuing research program on the (pro)social implications of arts engagement.

Although these effects seem promising, many of the claims about empathy cultivated through art appreciation are contested. For instance, some researchers have been unable to replicate the causal effects (most recently, Panero et al., 2016), noting, like Bullot and Reber (2013), that a brief encounter is typically "shallow" and is unlikely to have significant impacts on cognitive or affective empathy. This is not altogether surprising as measures like the RMET are likely relatively stable across time. And, even if it appears that art engagement increases state empathy-that is, empathic responses during the interaction-the single engagement may not cultivate empathy in the long term in real-life scenarios the way that researchers hope. It is not inconceivable that an individual connects to fictional characters described as in a particular situation, but would not connect to real people in that same situation. Furthermore, it is theoretically unclear why individuals who read a story just once, or even those who are well-read, should be better attuned to discriminating facial expressivity per se. Rather, it might be that narrative fiction develops imaginative capacity. In fact, research by Johnson (2012) finds that reading fiction can actually lead to decreased perceptual accuracy in discriminating fearful emotions. Johnson speculates that such reduced discriminability is likely due to a bias in attributing emotions, particularly ones congruent with a prosocial behavior, to ambiguous expressions. Similarly, research attempting to quantify the effects of both brief and longer-term art encounters on empathy and patient outcomes for medical professionals is contested and still underdeveloped (e.g., Perry et al., 2011; Yang and Yang, 2013; Kelm et al., 2014). Finally, there is conflicting evidence on the extent to which thrills-like responses affect schemas and behavior. For instance, the physical chills response that some individuals report in response to music as well as to visual art and literature does not always seem to differentially affect prosocial behaviors or self concept, relative to artworks that do not elicit chills ( Konecni et al., 2007). Thus, more empirical studies are needed to systematically address how art appreciation actually affects other-understanding.

Summary

We began this section by reviewing philosophical views that hold or imply that art appreciation is socio-epistemically valuable insofar as it cultivates other-understanding through processes like emotional sharing or imaginative understanding. Following these ideas, psychologists and neuroscientists have begun to empirically assess whether and how art appreciation deepens other-understanding. Empirical research has up to this point demonstrated that art appreciation engages similar psychological processes that are involved in social interaction, such as emotional resonance, mental state attribution, and cognitive perspective taking. Furthermore, we reviewed evidence that showed that increased "practice" appreciating the arts, arts-appreciation "interventions" (as in medical school curricula), and even "basic exposure" to the arts (as in Kidd and Castano, 2013) increased individual's capacities for other-understanding. Although it is promising, the empirical and philosophical research centered on the relationship between art appreciation and other-understanding is still limited in its scope, quantity, and specificity. Particularly important will be to develop robust (perhaps more longitudinal) methodologies that demonstrate the processes by which arts appreciation cultivates other-understanding as well as its relationship to self-understanding, leading a flourishing life, and other socio-epistemic skills.

Looking Ahead

In this paper, we aimed to highlight how understanding the power of the arts in our lives requires going beyond the current aesthetics-focused conception of the outcomes of art appreciation. Rather than neuroaesthetics models which focus nearly exclusively on judgments of beauty, preference, or liking as the primary outcomes of art appreciation, we should set ourselves to better understanding the range of socio-epistemic outcomes of such engagement. Here, we have focused on self-understanding and other-understanding as such outcomes, but do not intend to limit the potential of this framework shift to just these outcomes. Rather, we aimed to provide evidence for the fruitfulness of neuroaesthetics adopting a more comprehensive approach to the outcomes of art appreciation that mirror the richer conceptions of art engagement found in philosophy, art history, and art criticism, which understand art as an embodied, enactive, social practice.

Importantly, such an approach does not discount prior empirical research, but refocuses its aim around socio-epistemic skills developed within arts practices. In thinking of the arts as social practices that people engage in, we can come to better understand how they serve a variety of social and cultural values. We hope this approach inspires empirical research to more fully investigate the specific ways in which the processes underlying art engagement cultivate socio-epistemically valuable skills. That is, how do specific emotional experiences lead to self-understanding? To other-understanding? And to other socio-epistemic values? How does engagement with different art forms relate to distinct socio-epistemic values? Does engagement with literary art, for example, more promote a particular set of values, compared to practiced engagement with the visual arts or music?

To answer these questions, researchers will need to go beyond the typical unitary measures of preference after a single exposure, and instead employ more longitudinal designs incorporating both state and trait based measures. Take for example a researcher interested in whether and how engaging with particular form of visual art (e.g., art depicting minority groups such as American Indians) may deepen ones cultural understanding and appreciation. To go beyond standard designs, one might consider (a) encouraging viewers to engage with each artwork for longer periods of time (e.g., at least 1 minute), (b) comparing lab findings to naturalistic settings (e.g., conducting experiments in both settings to determine generalizability of lab results) and (c) combining methodologies (e.g., eye tracking, physiology, EEG, subjective self-reports such as being moved, interest, emotional state, and written reflections). Possible individual difference measures that researchers may employ include tests that measure capacity for cognitive and affective empathy [e.g., the Empathy Quotient (EQ; Lawrence et al., 2004), the Interpersonal Reactivity index (IRI; Davis, 1980), or the questionnaire of affective and cognitive empathy (QCAE, Reniers et al., 2011)], tests that measure state and dispositional aspects of self-awareness [e.g., the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown and Ryan, 2003), self concept clarity questionnaires, tolerance for uncertainty, Webster and Kruglanski, 1994], tests that measure emotion perception and regulation (e.g., the scale of subjective emotion experience (See; as in Pelowski et al., 2017), and subjective self reports relevant to one's art experience including art expertise, interest, reflections and insights. Furthermore, researchers may adopt experimental techniques from the mindfulness and meditation literature, which similarly aims to demonstrate the perceptual, cognitive, and emotional effects of mindfulness practices as compared simply to mindful states. Thus, we see our reframing as an exciting opportunity for researchers to be creative in designs (see Table 2 for examples of open questions).

Table 2. Open questions.

Further, this kind of "art as social practice" approach encourages scientists to view art engagement, generally, be it appreciating or creating, as a form of knowledge acquisition and production. Although we focused here on art appreciation, we believe our approach generalizes to art creation. Like art appreciation, art making involves practices which integrate embodied and "mental" activities so as to render the two inseparable. In fact, the philosophical and psychological research on creation and creativity recognizes and investigates such processes of creative practice associated with individual development more so than does the research on art appreciation.

Finally, we believe that focusing on the socio-epistemic skills cultivated through art engagement highlights the important role art plays in our lives, and the need to advocate for arts education programs. Through this kind of research program, we should come to better understand the arts as socially valuable. We suggest that empirical research can be used to show that engagement with art has social and personal value, rather than monetary or economic value, the cultivation of which is important to us as individuals, and as communities.

Author Contributions

All authors listed have made substantial, direct, intellectual contributions to the work, and approved it for publication.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Anjan Chatterjee, Simon Penny, Dylan Sabo, Sarah Ostendorf, Ainsley LeSure, Santiago Mejia, and the two reviewers for their helpful feedback on earlier drafts of this argument.

Footnotes

References

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What Is Art Good For? The Socio-Epistemic Value of Art

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Scientists, humanists, and art lovers alike value art not just for its beauty, but also for its social and epistemic importance; that is, for its communicative nature, its capacity to increase one's self-knowledge and encourage personal growth, and its ability to challenge our schemas and preconceptions.

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Learning: Never Eat Alone (Networking How-to)

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Learning: Never Eat Alone (Networking How-to)

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Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time a book by Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz

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The bestselling business classic on the power of relationships, updated with in-depth advice for making connections in the digital world. Do you want to get ahead in life? Climb the ladder to personal success? The secret, master networker Keith Ferrazzi claims, is in reaching out to other people.…

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When you're considering a new job, project or investment, there are ways to identify whether or not it's a smart decision.

You can evaluate what the bottom line will be, whether or not you'll see career growth, or what opportunities may be available to you later on. You can usually identify with whom you would be able to network, and what your trajectory might be for the next few years. But there's one crucial element that it's often difficult to identify: will you actually be happy doing it?

Though it's hard to predict until we first try and then give ourselves some time to try to acclimate to a new routine (experts suggest waiting at least a year at a new job before deciding whether or not you want to stick with it) there's another way to see if your work is really fulfilling you, and it's called ikigai.

Dan Buettner is a National Geographic fellow, New York Times bestselling author, and the founder of the company Blue Zones, and he specializes in understanding longevity, and what makes for a meaningful life. He explained to me that ikigai is a Japanese term that refers to the concept of a "reason for being." Loosely translated, it's your purpose, or the reason you wake up every morning.

He explains that though ikigai can change throughout our lives (we certainly don't extract the same purpose from life when we are a student as when we are a professional, or parent) there's empirical evidence that backs up its effectiveness, and that's how those in the culture who practice it live. "Okinawa is one of the world's blue zones regions and has one of the highest rates of centenarians. On Okinawa, ikigai imbues the culture. In the Okinawan language, there is no word for retirement. For elders there, their ikigai might be minding their grandchildren and great grandchildren, teaching martial arts, or minding their garden and sharing their bounty with their friends," Dan explains.

Essentially, knowing your purpose can add years to your life, and depth to them, as well. "People with purpose live longer, sleep better, and are healthier and happier," he said.

For those who want to determine their own, Dan says to follow these steps:

Make three lists: your values, things you like to do, and things you are good at.

The cross section of the three lists is your ikigai.

Find an outlet for your ikigai; ikigai is purpose in action.

For those who are struggling even to identify what they are interested in or genuinely good at, Dan explains that it's not a cause for stress or worry, rather, an opportunity to do some self-exploration. He recommends signing up to volunteer at a local organization or group that interests you. In doing so, you'll be able to connect with like-minded people who have a similar goal as you. Not only will you be helping your community, but you'll be developing a sense of ikigaiin the process.

But if that isn't a long-term solution, consider other avenues. Read, research and take some quiet time to reflect on what it is that makes you feel most productive, inspired and useful. The interesting part of ikigai is that what we do for others best stems from what we are first passionate about. If we combine that spark of interest with consistent action - inspired at least in part by the desire to do well for others, and ourselves - we will find that work, and life, does not only feel a bit more bearable, but maybe even worthwhile.

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Ikigai Is The Japanese Method Of Determining Whether Or Not Your Work Will Fulfill You

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When you're considering a new job, project or investment, there are ways to identify whether or not it's a smart decision. You can evaluate what the bottom line will be, whether or not you'll see career growth, or what opportunities may be available to you later on.

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You can share digital downloads like lesson plans and worksheets for purchase here!

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Passive Income - Digital Products: Teachers Pay Teachers

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Passive Income - Digital Products: Teachers Pay Teachers

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Browse over 160 educational resources created by Teachings in Education in the official Teachers Pay Teachers store.

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One marketplace, millions of professional services. Browse. Buy. Done.

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Another platform to market tutoring, teaching artist sessions, and more.

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Previous

LOVE LOVE triple LOVE this class. Constant interaction, never a dull moment, all kids classes should be this fabulous! Amazing way of exploring new activities and meeting new people. Can't wait to come back.

- Leslie, Mom to Ruby

Kidpass has changed the way I structure activities and learning for my little one! It is a great way to try new and different experiences I would not have tried on my own. Love Kidpass and how it has changed the way I parent!

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We've done so many great classes through KidPass, from dancing to drawing to soccer to singing! The teachers are engaging, creative, fun, and patient. Thank you, KidPass!

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KidPass: Kids Activities Near Me & Online Classes for Kids

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Previous LOVE LOVE triple LOVE this class. Constant interaction, never a dull moment, all kids classes should be this fabulous! Amazing way of exploring new activities and meeting new people. Can't wait to come back. - Leslie, Mom to Ruby Kidpass has changed the way I structure activities and learning for my little one!

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Passive Income: How to Sell Digital Downloads on Etsy

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Passive Income: How to Sell Digital Downloads on Etsy

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Shop owners across Etsy who offer digital downloads in their shop are selling everything from sewing patterns to party printables to beautifully designed resumé templates. Offering digital downloads is one way you can add more listings to your shop and exercise your creativity. Plus, shoppers who purchase a digital download can have new art hanging in their home in minutes or start a new sewing project that day.

Selling digital downloads can also be a low-maintenance way to stay in touch with your creative and entrepreneurial passions. They let you run an Etsy shop without having to worry about headaches like shipping. Claudine Hellmuth sells printable gift box templates that she illustrates and designs. When she first started selling digital downloads on Etsy in 2011, Claudine was self-employed and had more time to devote to creating new digital designs and marketing her shop. She recently went back to a full-time job as a graphic designer, but her Etsy shop remains a source of income on the side. "It's such a great way to create passive income!" Claudine says. "You don't have to store or ship your product and you can sell the same item multiple times."

Whether you're thinking about starting a new shop or just want to try something new, these tips will help you get started selling digital items.

Getting started

Listing a digital download on Etsy is just like creating a listing for a physical product. When you create your listing, you can now list it in two different ways-as an instant download or made-to-order.

"Instant download" means you'll upload the file when you create the listing and your customers will receive it immediately when they make a purchase. You can upload audio, image, or text files to your listing.

"Made to order" means that after a buyer purchases the item, they'll receive an email confirming the purchase but won't immediately receive the item. The order will show up as an open order in your Orders & Shipping page so you can keep track of it as you work on the customization. When you've finished customizing the digital download, you can complete the order by uploading the digital file or files. See all the steps of listing a digital item.

Although no special skills are required to list a digital download on Etsy, a good working knowledge of design programs like Adobe Illustrator will make creating files easier.

Remember that a big part of running a business on Etsy is learning and adapting your shop over time. Claudine recommends experimenting with selling digital downloads by starting with a few designs. "You don't have to wait to have hundreds of designs to open your shop," she says. "List a few designs, see what your customers respond to and then make more of whatever category is selling well."

Tips for success

If you're already familiar with the process of listing and selling on Etsy, listing your first digital item should feel familiar. But, there are some nuances to know about when photographing and pricing digital items, and shoppers might have different customer service expectations.

Photographing

In addition to stylized photos of a completed project, Sarah Norwood of shop Ohhh Lulu includes a fifth photo to explicitly state that the listing is for a downloadable sewing pattern.

Great photography is essential for any listing on Etsy, but photographing digital items and ensuring that shoppers understand exactly what they're buying poses certain challenges. Sarah Norwood sells hand-sewn lingerie and digital download lingerie patterns in her shops Ohhh Lulu and Ohhh Lulu Sews. Sarah includes photos in her listings that communicate the aesthetic of her brand and show shoppers what they can create with her patterns. "I always try to create a mood with my photos," Sarah says. "So even if it's just a picture of the pattern itself, I try to give it a romantic feeling or style it in such a way that people can really picture themselves using it."

Adding a stylized photo of the pattern itself has dramatically cut down on the number of confused customers Sarah encounters who think they're purchasing the finished item and not a pattern. Emphasizing in your titles and tags that the item is a digital download can also help.

Simple props like a vase of flowers and clean marble and wood surfaces are essential to a home photo setup. Photo from Etsy shop Mimi Design Prints.

Put the same care into photographing your digital download items as would a physical item. Set up a frame for art prints with a few props and photograph it with natural light. Complete a DIY project to show shoppers what they can make with your patterns. Photos like this will help shoppers imagine what they'll create with your downloadable products.

Customer Service

A subtle banner across the bottom on her listing images lets shoppers know that Claudine's product is a printable kit.

Digital products will save you storage space and trips to the post office, but they can sometimes require extra customer service effort. As a pattern seller, Sarah has found that her communication with pattern customers is much more in-depth than the questions she gets from shoppers who purchase lingerie from her. "Sometimes customers need more step-by-step instruction, especially if they're new to sewing," she says. "So I might not spend a lot of time with order management, but I spend a lot of time helping people remotely." Sarah uses her blog to share more in-depth details and how-to's with her customers. Creating these resources allows her to reply with a link for more info instead of repeatedly answering the same questions via Messages.

Claudine has also found that shoppers sometimes need some additional resources to make the most of their digital downloads purchase. On her YouTube channel, she shares videos that show exactly how to put together her printable, 3D gift boxes.

The questions and comments you receive from customers are a great opportunity to think about how you can improve your pattern or download to make things clearer for future customers-saving you time and improving your customers' overall experience.

When you start selling digital downloads, you might also find yourself answering customer's technical questions. "You'd be surprised how many people do not know how to download and open a PDF or are unsure how to change their printer settings from portrait to landscape," Claudine says. She includes step-by-step directions in the email buyers receive with their files.

It may also be helpful to get familiar with the printing process and color modes your customers might be using. You can send your designs to a few popular printers to see how they turn out-that way you can make an informed recommendation to your customers and help them troubleshoot any issues that may arise.

Pricing

How do you place a value on a digital item? That question can be difficult to answer if you're just getting started selling downloads. Start by thinking about how much you would charge for the item if you were printing it, packaging it and mailing it. And be sure to consider how much time you put into each design and what you would consider a reasonable profit. Then, add on expenses like Etsy fees to settle on a final price.

Another concern is that selling digital downloads might take away from sale of your other products on Etsy, but Sarah says it's unwarranted. "I was nervous to start selling sewing patterns because I didn't want to take away from my lingerie sales, but I found that it's two different markets," she says. "The people who want to make their own lingerie are not the same people who are going to buy made-to-order lingerie."

Offering digital downloads can help you add more listings to your shop, reach different audiences and explore new sales channels. It might also save you some time, so you can focus on creating new products and designs.
Be sure to subscribe to our seller email list for important updates about your Etsy shop, new features, and personalized tips to help grow your business.
Words by Etsy Staff

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Shop owners across Etsy who offer digital downloads in their shop are selling everything from sewing patterns to party printables to beautifully designed resumé templates. Offering digital downloads is one way you can add more listings to your shop and exercise your creativity.

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Life on this pale blue dot can be somewhat challenging. Some days it's tough to find a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Some people seem to find joy wherever they go. How do they do it? Do you know the secret to a happy and fulfilling life?

Do you consciously stop to think about your happiness? Do small things bring a smile to your face? Do you feel like there's a sense of meaning, something that fuels you to keep going even when things get rough?

If you answered 'yes' to these questions, you probably already have an - way to go! If you didn't, maybe it's time to introduce it to your daily life.

Below, we'll provide an ikigai meaning from both the Japanese and Western perspectives. We'll help you figure out how to use ikigai in everyday life and how it can help you find peace, purpose, and joy.

What is ikigai?

Ikigai (生き甲斐, "ee-kee-guy") is a Japanese concept. It describes the things that make your life worthwhile, the things that give you a deep sense of purpose, satisfaction, and joy.

The word has recently made its way into Western culture. It's sometimes defined as the 'secret to a happy life' or 'something that brings pleasure or fulfillment.' (This isn't entirely accurate, but we'll clear that up below.)

Ikigai is made up of two Japanese words, iki (生き), which means life, and kai (甲斐), meaning effect, result, value, benefit, or worth. Iki and kai come together to give us ikigai: a reason to live/to exist.

(If you're curious, the "k" turns into a "g" due to a linguistic phenomenon known as 'rendaku'. In Japanese, voiceless consonants (such as "k" in kai) become voiced (e.g., "g" in gai) when they appear in front of words that make up the second part of a compound.)

Although the concept of ikigai is well-known among Japanese people. Psychiatrist Mieko Kamiya first popularized it in her 1966 book Ikigai ni Tsuite - (生きがいについて - On the meaning of life).

What's the history behind ikigai?

The origin of the word ikigai dates all the way back to the Heian period (794 to 1185). Professor Akihiro Hasegawa has studied the concept of ikigai for many years.

He believes that the 'kai' actually comes from the Japanese word for shell or shellfish (貝). During the Heian period, shells were extremely valuable. They were often hand-decorated by artists and used as part of a shell-matching game called "kai-awase" (貝合わせ). Only the rich could afford these beautiful and valuable shells. This is how the word kai literally became synonymous with worth, value, benefit, and so on.

The misconception of ikigai in the west

Ikigai has risen in popularity over the past few years. Blogs and news outlets, such as the BBC, have published countless stories such as Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a happy life. Unfortunately, many people in the West confuse ikigai with a certain Venn diagram about 'finding your purpose'.

The Western interpretation of Ikigai, popularized by Marc Winn

The Western interpretation of Ikigai, popularized by Marc Winn
This ikigai diagram comprises four overlapping circles. Each circle contains a question. And each set of circles comes together to describe one's passion, mission, profession, and vocation. Once you've contemplated each question, you can supposedly reveal your ikigai / life purpose.

The four questions ask whether or not you're doing:

Something that you love

Something that the world needs

Something you're good at

Something you can be paid for

Entrepreneur Marc Winn popularized the diagram. He combined the ikigai concept with a purpose-finding process invented by Spanish astrologer Andrés Zuzunaga in 2011. It became popular and turned into a meme. Many English-speaking cultures reference it as the authoritative definition of ikigai. (Credit goes to Nicholas Kemp for chronicling the history of ikigai's misconceptions.)

The purpose diagram can help people find balance in their life, but really it's advice for finding an ideal career, rather than life advice. It has nothing to do with the Japanese concept of ikigai. The online ikigai diagram suggests that meeting all four conditions is necessary to achieve true happiness or ikigai.

That's simply not true because it implies you can't experience ikigai if you do something you love but aren't getting paid for it.

And while we're at it, let's clear up a certain geographical misconception.

Okinawan centenarians don't hold the secret to ikigai. Yes, life expectancy is surprisingly high in Okinawa (the southernmost prefecture of Japan) which is why it's on the list of Blue Zones. ¹ Authors Héctor García and Francesc Miralles interviewed a group of Okinawan citizens over the age of 100 to discover their life philosophies for their book Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life. But it had the effect of placing Okinawa as the center of ikigai, which isn't really correct.

Professor Hasegawa found that location doesn't really influence people's ikigai. Rather, it all has to do with health, intellectual activeness, and perceived social behavior/roles.

The true meaning of the Japanese word ikigai

The truth is that Japanese people rarely ask themselves the above questions concerning ikigai. And it doesn't have to be related to our professional lives.

The term isn't as grandiose in its original context. In reality, ikigai has more to do with the little things in life-finding deep meaning in the small, happy moments you learn to treasure as they nourish you with joy. This sense of awareness and gratitude is what makes a meaningful life.

According to Professor Hasegawa, we have to blame the language barrier for this misinterpretation. Ikigai has long been described as the Japanese secret to a long and happy life. But it's not something we can measure - nor does it lie in some certain sweet spot. The word iki, which comes from the verb ikiru/to live (生きる) pertains to daily living. When talking about someone's lifetime in more general terms, the Japanese use the noun 人生 ( jinsei) instead.

So, here's a better way of framing the English translation, coined by Nicholas Kemp: the value one finds in day-to-day living.

The things that really bring you meaning in life (ikigai)

Mieko Kamiya didn't just help popularize the term ikigai in Japan. Many researchers (including professor Hasegawa) have used her findings to try and capture the true meaning of ikigai.

One thing Kamiya established was that most people have one specific force, or focus, of their personal ikigai. This can be tied to the past, present, or future, and it can be many different things, including:

Any of these can fuel a person's ikigai, leading to several positive feelings of life satisfaction:

Self-realization and willingness to live

Sense of fulfillment in everyday life

Motivation to live

Sense of existence

Sense of control

These feelings are known as ikigai-kan. Many of us here in the West are driven by similar motivational forces; we're just not always conscious of their effects. In Japanese culture, people tie their happiness and well-being to their ikigai. Finding purpose and staying strong even when dealing with a highly stressful daily life. Japanese people's ikigai may be linked to their endurance, discipline, and determination.

Ikigai tools to find your life passion

If you're feeling a little lost in identifying your personal ikigai, Fingerprint for Success might be the right tool for you. We've created a personal development platform that is dedicated to helping real people find happiness and make amazing things happen. We can help you identify your biggest motivations. By taking our free assessment, you can uncover your highest areas of focus that fuel your ikigai. Our assessment tool and hyper-effective programs are backed by more than 20 years of research. It integrates science & technology to support you on your human development journey

We even offer free AI coaching if you want to focus on goals that will bring more meaning to your life. Our Vital Wellbeing is a great place to start for improving your overall emotional health, vitality, and self-esteem.

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What are some examples of ikigai?

With that in mind, it's not hard to come up with some great ikigai examples, which can be grandiose or humble.

Think of the single mom who's working two jobs to make sure her children have everything they need. Life's not easy, but taking care of her children, watching them grow, and putting a smile on their faces is enough to keep her going. Her children are her ikigai, bringing her a strong sense of joy and fulfillment in an otherwise exhausting and unstable life.

Think of a young student's will to study hard and pursue their dream job and a teacher's quest to see their students flourish. A grandma's ikigai might be staying healthy or seeing her children or grandchildren every week.

Yes, your professional calling might be closely linked to your ikigai. But note how there's no necessary correlation with monetary benefits. This is what the Venn diagram gets wrong. As we've already mentioned, small things that bring pleasure and a sense of fulfillment in life make just as much of a contribution to your ikigai.

How do I find my personal ikigai?

Ikigai isn't an elaborate secret or fancy technique that can give meaning and purpose to life. At least, according to neuroscientist Ken Mogi. For Mogi, it makes more sense to do away with strict definitions, focusing on the positive impact of ikigai - and finding a way to replicate its effects.

Anything that gives you joy while also fueling you forward can be described as ikigai.

Ken Mogi identifies five principles that can help people feel more grateful as they learn to appreciate the small joys of life.

1. Start small

The first pillar of ikigai is closely tied to the Japanese philosophy of kodawari (こだわり - 'commitment'). You can think of kodawari as the relentless pursuit of perfection in one's work or craft. Many Japanese know perfection is unattainable, but they aim to be as efficient and innovative as possible.

Even if they have access to limited resources, Japanese followers of ikigai will put their heart and soul into what they do. Always looking for new ways to improve and progress. They know that greatness doesn't come easy, and they don't mind moving forward one step at a time.

Diligence, patience, and attention to detail allow them to see beauty in the smallest things. Things such as the first sip of coffee in the morning, a child's laughter, and the strong scent of tonkotsu ramen in the streets of Tokyo.

2. Release yourself

According to Mogi, The second pillar of ikigai is accepting yourself as you are.

Variation is one of the greatest hallmarks of nature. He believes there's happiness to be found in allowing your true self to flourish and shine through.

He mentions the Japanese proverb junin toiro (十人十色), which translates to 'ten different colors for ten different people.' And lies at the core of ikigai philosophy:

"In pursuing your ikigai, you can be yourself, as much as you like. It is only natural that you should be yourself because each one of us has a slightly different color."

Although otherwise a collectivist culture, the Japanese value variations in personality, sensitivity, and expression.

3. Live in harmony and sustainability

The third pillar is all about harmony and sustainability. You should pursue your own dreams and desires. But you should always take the sustainability of your social - and natural - environment into consideration as well.

You see, ikigai is a kind of motivational force that helps you move forward: it gives you the strength to do the chores when you'd rather sleep. It pushes you forward on your ideal career path (while finding joy in it) when you could stay complacent at your current job. But more importantly, ikigai is about being in harmony with the environment, with the people around you, and with society at large.

For Westerners, the concept of harmony can be a tricky one. We often find ourselves in competitive environments where hierarchies and power structures dominate. It's difficult to see the bigger picture when we're so preoccupied with our individual worries and desires. We don't often see how we fit into that bigger picture, and that can bring us down.

4. Find joy in the small things

Despite what most Westerners believe about ikigai, for most Japanese people, it has nothing to do with their full-time job. Due to demanding and uninspiring work environments, a key ingredient of ikigai is seeking fulfillment outside of work. Japan is a country of hobbyists who've taken the joy of small things to a whole new level.

What if you work in business full-time but have a passion for pottery? You find time to spend in your workshop, even if you only sell one $10 vase by the end of the week. The sense of achievement and satisfaction you feel by landing that sale might be enough to fuel your ikigai for days to come. Or it could just come from the creative process of making it, rather than the commercial aspect.

As an example, Mogi talks about the huge number of people who actively produce and sell their own manga at the komiketto (コミケット - comic market). Sure, it can be lucrative to some extent, but for the vast percentage of people it's a joyful hobby.

5. Be in the here and now

Being present is a frame of mind. You'll be familiar with this concept if you've studied Eastern philosophies before. Remaining focused on the here and now allows you to lead a calmer, more carefree life. Mogi believes this final pillar is all about bringing out our inner child. And taking the time to cherish and appreciate every fleeting moment.

He says that children are always filled with joy because they don't spend too much time thinking about the past and the future. The present moment brings new adventures and sensations that they just need to explore.

Being more childlike can be life-changing. We can continue to learn, play, and be free and creative without worrying too much about our daily routine, financial stability, social roles, or status.

Ikigai in a nutshell

Ikigai is finding meaning in life and wholeheartedly dedicating yourself to your personal happiness. It's all about discovering the small joys that make life worth living for you. It doesn't have to be this big secret that will suddenly enlighten you and give you purpose.

Take some time to observe the world around you. Be kind, look inward, and try to make the most of every moment without overthinking things. That's the key to a happier life.

And remember, finding your ikigai is a never-ending process and a way of being. Enjoy the journey, wherever your life path takes you.

Find your personal happiness

Answer these questions to gain access to your motivational strengths and blind spots. It only takes 15-20 minutes. Learn what gives you energy and fulfillment in life and work.

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Siobhán O'Loughlin (she/her) is a Los Angeles-based creative. She is the recipient of The New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, a grant recipient of the Network of Ensemble Theatres, a Moth Story Slam Champion, a fellow at Guild Hall of East Hampton, and an international teaching artist. Her site specific, immersive piece, Broken Bone Bathtub, toured globally for five consecutive years with over 600 performances in 40 different cities, was featured in the PBS Emmy-Award Winning Documentary Series Immersive.World, and clocked top ten lists for theatre experiences from the Baltimore Sun, The San Francisco Examiner, and The Houston Chronicle. Broken Bone Bathtub is the recipient of the 2019 Immersion Award for Most Transformative Experience.

Siobhán is currently in the distribution phase for her feature-length documentary about her experience with Broken Bone Bathtub on the road, of which she is the Director, and for which she single-handedly raised $40,000 in 2019.

The roaring twenties rage on, and she's fundraising again: this time to support the distribution strategy for Broken Bone Bathtub. She's applying to many different film festivals (you know, the big ones) whose fees range from $45-$90, and if you'd like to sponsor an application, or just contribute to her livelihood while she works and creates, she'd love that.

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Choose your donation frequency Siobhán O'Loughlin (she/her) is a Los Angeles-based creative. She is the recipient of The New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, a grant recipient of the Network of Ensemble Theatres, a Moth Story Slam Champion, a fellow at Guild Hall of East Hampton, and an international teaching artist.

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