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Distancing, not embracing, the Distancing-Embracing model of art reception

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2017

Stephen Davies
Stephen Davies*
Affiliation:
Philosophy, School of Humanities, University of Auckland, Auckland CBD 1010, New Zealand. sj.davies@auckland.ac.nzhttp://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/people/profile/sj-davies
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Abstract

Despite denials in the target article, the Distancing-Embracing model appeals to compensatory ideas in explaining the appeal of artworks that elicit negative affect. The model also appeals to the deflationary effects of psychological distancing. Having pointed to the famous rejection in the 1960s of the view that aesthetic experience involves psychological distancing, I suggest that “distance” functions here as a weak metaphor that cannot sustain the explanatory burden the theory demands of it.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e357
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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