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The urge to judge: Why the judgmental attitude has anything to do with the aesthetic enjoyment of negative emotions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2017

Elvira Brattico  and
Peter Vuust
Elvira Brattico
Affiliation:
Center for Music in the Brain (MIB), Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. elvira.brattico@clin.au.dk pv@musikkons.dk musicinthebrain.au.dk
Peter Vuust
Affiliation:
Center for Music in the Brain (MIB), Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. elvira.brattico@clin.au.dk pv@musikkons.dk musicinthebrain.au.dk
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Abstract

Based on arguments from both philosophical and empirical aesthetics, we hereby propose that the enjoyment of negative emotions in art and fiction is distinct from the immediate pleasure deriving from sensory features, because it requires a conscious, intentional attitude toward the object. This attitude is linked with the compelling goal of providing a judgment of liking, beauty, perfection, or similar.

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Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e353
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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