The Slovak Journal of Aesthetics
O del mio Dolce Ardor. Thermoaesthetics and the Phenomenology of Thermal Touch
Abstract
With the aim of grasping the transformations the study of thermal touch from a phenomenological perspective could bring to the aesthetic field, in the first part of this paper, I introduce the general idea of a plastic sensorium in the context of the Aristotelian doctrine of life as dependant on haptic conditions of thermal homeostasis. In the second part, I explore some recent studies in the field of haptic aesthetics, as they root themselves in phenomenological tradition and ideas. In the third part, I present Husserlian considerations on thermal touch and the cosmological questions a thermoaesthetics raises. I conclude by highlighting two paradoxical concepts that, I consider, the aesthetic analysis of thermal experiences, as they relate especially to fire, should try to understand: counter-hormesis and pyrification.
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ESPES. The Slovak Journal of Aesthetics (ISSN 1339-1119) is published biannually by University of Presov, Slovakia and the Society for Aesthetics in Slovakia. Registration number of the journal in the Register of Periodical Publications of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic: EV173/23/EPP.
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