Esthetics

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy that explores the nature of art, beauty and taste, with the creation and appreciation of beauty. In its more technical epistemological perspective, it is defined as the study of subjective and sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste. Aesthetics studies how artists imagine, create and perform works of art; how people use, enjoy and criticize art, and what happens in their minds when they look at paintings, listen to music or read poetry, and understand what they see and hear. It also studies how they feel about art—why they like some works and not others, and how art can affect their moods, beliefs and attitude toward life.