Addendum

I think I need to add an addendum to the last post. Perhaps it was somewhat unclear what my idea of aesthetic appreciation includes. I am not entirely sure myself, but I do know that, unlike the impression I probably gave in the last post, desire does not play THE central role. Desire is one of the many steps that one must take in learning to appreciate art, but it is merely a step. Ultimately, according to Kant, etc. one should reach a state of disinterest. I will not go so far as to suggest that aesthetic disinterest is the same as the Orthodox ideal of dispassion or apatheia, but there are some similarities, just as there are similarities to the Stoic idea of the same. Really it means to be able to be fully immersed in contemplation, yet not affected.