The Search for Aesthetic Meaning in the Visual Arts: The Need for the Aesthetic Tradition in Contemporary Art Theory and EducationMany contemporary artists produce work that reflects nothing more than a perceived social reality. It is the author's belief that Postmodern art theory and education have trivialized the place of aesthetics in the visual arts, despite the fact that humans search for meaning in life and experiencing the visual arts is one of the ways they seek such meaning. Humans, according to the author's position, understand the world about them in ways that do not easily conform to logical cognition alone. They may also use intuition or pre-thought in developing their understanding of the world and themselves. |