Vuoden artikkelin palkinto 2024 – Marcos Nadal & Martin Skov: The Sensory Valuation Account of Aesthetic Experience

Suomen Estetiikan Seura on myöntänyt palkinnon vuoden parhaalle estetiikan alan artikkelille vuodesta 2015 alkaen. Tämän vuoden palkinto julkistettiin SES:n syyseminaarin yhteydessä 10.12.2024.

Article of the Year 2024

Marcos Nadal & Martin Skov, “The Sensory Valuation Account of Aesthetic Experience.” (Nature Reviews Psychology, 2024).

The authors Marcos Nadal and Martin Skov take up the challenge of studying aesthetic experience, a core phenomenon for the field of aesthetics, and its relation to non-aesthetic experience. They do this with empirical methods but with appropriate awareness of philosophical work on the topic. Nadal and Skov argue that neurobiological mechanisms that are needed for experiencing aesthetically are shared with non-human animals. The argument that aesthetic experience should be seen as domain-general sensory valuation is based on careful consideration of previous studies in empirical aesthetics, and it challenges some previous notions in the field by suggesting that aesthetic experience is not “disinterested, non-utilitarian and uniquely human”. As such, it is a bold and insightful statement that at the same time clarifies the conceptual framework in aesthetics and makes this framework accessible for other fields of research.

In sum, the article is a well-balanced example of research with relevance to both empirical and philosophical aesthetics, and hence, it furthers discussion of the key concepts in the field of aesthetics in an exceptionally comprehensive manner.

The recipient of the award was chosen by the Society’s Vice-President Onerva Kiianlinna (University of Helsinki & Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research) on behalf of the Finnish Society for Aesthetics.