DSC 301. I.A.Richards. Chap 2. Phantom Aesthetic State 26,

Chapter 2: The Phantom (spirit of the dead or something we believe exists) Aesthetic State Refuting the "Aesthetic State" where Richards attacks the Kantian assumption that "aesthetic pleasure" is a special, isolated state of mind completely separate from normal sensory, intellectual, or moral experiences. 

To Ordinary Experience: He argues that art operates using the same mental apparatus, impulses, and emotions we use in everyday life, dismissing the idea of a mysterious "aesthetic mode".

What Happens

Modern aesthetics is plagued by the Kantian assumption that aesthetic pleasure is sui generis (of its own kind), separate from ordinary pleasures of the senses as well as our faculties of Will and Thought. Richards dubs this annexation the “phantom problem of the aesthetic mode or aesthetic state,” wherein aesthetics is seen as a distinct world.

The author casts aspersions (damaging or risks) on the assumptions upon which the “phantom aesthetic state” rests, the first being the existence of a sui generis (of its own kind) experience and the second being the aesthetic experience as unique, peculiar, and specific.

He also opposes the idea of an aesthetic value or pure art value different from the values found in ordinary life. According to him, the proliferation of the “phantom aesthetic state” in critics’ circles impedes serious investigations into the value of art.

Why It Matters

In one of his most well-known takes in this chapter, Richards opposes the arguments that German Enlightenment thinker Immanuel Kant expressed in his 1764's Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime. As seen in the succeeding chapters, Richards’ assertions that art’s value involves our impulses, attitudes, and tendencies.

The Principles of Literary Criticism.

Phantom means an illusionary idea, something born from the

figment of imagination. And Aesthethic is concerned with the

appreciations or enjoyment of arts/ literature. In this chap, IA Richards dismisses the concept of a special aesthetic state. So the title  ‘phantom of aesthetic state’ actually referred to a special aesthetic state which was attributed a special status by philosophers such as

Kant. IA Richards is of the view that Modern aesthetics starting with Kant

has a special status for the pleasure associated with Arts but which is

disinterested, universal, and not to be confused with 'mundane or ordinary emotions.’ In simple words, philosophers like Kant believe that the aesthetic state is not ordinary. Art-experience is a special experience and it has a class of its own and cannot be compared with ordinary life. 

I A Richards differs in opinion and contradicts this idea. He feels that

there is no such ‘special mode.' The Aesthetic experience is not a new or different kind of thing. It is quite similar to the ordinary experience.

Richards uses a vivid analogy to explain this point. “When we look at a

picture, or read a poem, or listen to music, we are not doing something

quite unlike what we were doing on our way to the Gallery or when we are

dressed in the morning” (p 12) So the most ordinary activities like

dressing up, walking our way to the gallery can also give us an opportunity to appreciate art. When we dress up, we are instinctively

aware of the colours, combinations and styles. We need not have

extraordinary skills to do so. So also, when we walk along a gallery, we

can see the paintings or sculptures and appreciate them as being of

aesthetic value. Or for that matter, when we listen to music on the radio,

we are doing the most ordinary routine activity. One need not possess

superlative qualities to do so. So, in the most ordinary activities of our

day-to-day life, we could have been appreciators of art, opines Richards. 

Art experience says Richards, is not a mentally different kind. It does not

require extra-faculties or special qualities. However, it can be more complex, more unified…but it is not extra-ordinary. Those who believe in a special

aesthetic state, will postulate a unique value for it. However, Richards

believes that aesthetic experience do not really have aesthetic value. It

is possible, he says, to examine art-experiences and ascertain its value

in terms of ordinary life. It is always an integral part of ordinary life, never

cut off from it. IA Richards is against this illusionary ‘phantom’ of

aesthetic state. 

Philosophers like Kant are in fact are vehement to state that there is a

‘special’ state to appreciate the value of art. But Richards opposes this

idea and reiterates his view that this ‘special’ state is an illusion…and

there is no such ‘phantom of aesthetic state’.

Glossary

 Synasthesia: Synaesthesis is defined as our readiness “to take

any direction we choose”, but in synaesthesis evidently, we do not

choose.

 Stock-response: some undifferentiated responses to images and

symbols whenever they occur, irrespective of context.

 Ambiguity: Empson uses the term ambiguity 'in an extended

sense', to refer to 'any verbal nuance, however slight, which gives

room for alternative reactions to the same piece of language'.  Pseudo-statement: statement in poetry (unlike in science) which

uses emotive language. It is not governed by logic and facts, but by emotions.

CHAPTER 2 THE PHANTOM ÆSTHETIC STATE The author is saying that aesthetics is too focused on the appearance and emotional impact of art, and not enough on the value of the experiences that art provides us. This is a problem because it can lead to art that is empty or me.