The piano, the pistol, the prayer: aesthetic form and the problem of mind
Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences August 11, 2026 SJ Cowan
Abstract This essay develops an account of aesthetic form. Aesthetic form is not a matter of genre, style, or presentation, but the organization of appearance in which ordinary orientation breaks down and becomes a claim on thought. It requires a discipline of preserving both resistance and surrender in the face of what disturbs sense. Written in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of Alva...