Consciousness Aesthetics?
Journal of Consciousness Studies October 1, 2025 DOI: 10.53765/20512201.32.9.029 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that consciousness may possess aesthetic value in its own right, distinct from its epistemic and ethical value, and proposes a preliminary framework of questions and possible lines of investigation for an aesthetics of consciousness, while considering whether the enterprise is worth pursuing. |
Abstract
In recent years, interest in the value of consciousness has gained momentum. Much of the debate has focused on the epistemic and ethical value of consciousness. At least in principle, there is a third kind of value that may be attributed to consciousness: aesthetic value. The question of the aesthetic value of consciousness concerns not (or not just) whether consciousness is a necessary condition for the existence or instantiation of aesthetic value, but whether consciousness itself instantiates some aesthetic value. Research on the aesthetic value of consciousness in this sense has been virtually inexistent until very recently. Due to its embryonic state, almost everything about this potential new research area is yet undefined. In this paper, I attempt a preliminary articulation of some of the questions an aesthetics of consciousness may investigate, suggest a tentative evaluation of possible answers and lines of investigation, and offer some reflections on whether an aesthetics of consciousness is a philosophical enterprise worth pursuing.