Andrew McAninch, MSOE
Philosophy of Art
Aesthetic and Cognitive Value Assignment – Due on Canvas by Tuesday, 3/31/26, 1:00PM
Objective
The aim of this activity and assignment is to engage directly with an artwork and to use it as a “test case”
for the concepts of aesthetic and cognitive value we have discussed.
Assignment instructions
Please identify one artwork on display in the Grohmann Museum and use it as an example in your
responses to the questions below. Please write a brief paragraph or two in response to each question.
(Please do NOT use generative AI or outside sources from the Internet to inform your responses. You
may cite relevant parts of the course readings, of course—specifically, Gracyk’s Chapter 9—but I am
interested in reading your own analysis. Thank you!)
1. Enlightened empiricism is the view that (a) “the experience associated with a properly informed
aesthetic judgment is what is essentially valuable” about an artwork (Gracyk 169-70), but also
that (b) a “properly informed aesthetic judgment” might be informed by non-sensory properties
of the artwork, such as its history or cultural context, as well as sensory properties.
What are some of the sensory or non-sensory properties of the artwork you have chosen that
inform your aesthetic judgment of it?
The chosen artwork is Self Surgery on the third floor of the Grohman museum. The painting has a few
sensory properties that particualry stand out to me. The first is the face the man is making while
performing the surgery on his side. It is one of caution and pain, a very unique emotion as he is causing
himself immense pain, but he has to power through it. Another sensory property that stands out to me
is the dark background behind the scene, which forces the viewer to focus solely on the scene in front of
him.
2. On Gracyk’s account of aesthetic appreciation, which he amends from Gary Iseminger’s account,
“Appreciating is evaluating the experiencing of a state of affairs as valuable in itself” (179). In
other words, to aesthetically appreciate a work of art is to reflect on and assess the intrinsic
value of your experience of its properties.
Using your experience of your chosen artwork as an illustration, try to describe what the state
of aesthetic appreciation is.
Aesthetic appreciation is the understanding and valuation of the visual qualities of the artwork itself, as
well as the context and emotion behind the artwork, although not always necessary to appreciate the
work. For example, in the painting I chose, the choice of paint color reflects not only the color of human
skin but the blood at the incision point well. The artist did a good job of representing the nervousness
and pain of performing a medical operation on oneself with only a knife. It is reflected in the face the
man is making, one of focus, pain and a little bit of caution.
Andrew McAninch, MSOE
Philosophy of Art
3. Most people believe that art can be not only aesthetically valuable but also cognitively valuable.
In other words, art can stimulate the intellect, uncover truths, educate audiences, and foster
moral understanding, among other functions.
Does your chosen artwork possess cognitive values? What are they, and how does the artwork
exhibit them?
Yes, it does possess a cognitive value, as it shows how people in the 1700s had to perform self surgery
when going to a doctor was not an option. It depicts a unique situation which most people have never
and will never experience, and how medicine was performed in the 18th century The painting exhibits
this experience by showing the incision with the knife, and the pain the man is in.