•  12
    Art and Well-Being
    Estetika: The European Journal of Aesthetics 54 (2): 189. 2020.
  •  23
    Bodies of Work
    British Journal of Aesthetics 60 (1): 1-11. 2020.
    Conversations about art often include broad statements about the stature of artists. Such statements raise questions about the best way to look at the bodies of work of artists. Like individual works of art, bodies of work are artistic objects worthy of appreciation. Through the body of work, we are better able to engage the aspects of creativity that require a long-term perspective. This long-term perspective allows us to look for a range of aesthetic qualities not readily evident in individual…Read more
  •  3
    Norms of Cultivation
    Contemporary Aesthetics 13. 2015.
    In this paper I identify a new group of aesthetic norms, which I call norms of cultivation. Judgments of taste are often accompanied by forecasts or expectations about future aesthetic satisfaction. When we find something beautiful, we expect to find it beautiful in the future. Forecasting is at play in all sorts of aesthetically motivated behavior. Yet psychologists have observed an unreliability in such forecasts. As a result of forecasting error, what we take as our taste can be an unreliable…Read more
  •  24
    Art and Well-Being
    Estetika: The European Journal of Aesthetics 54 (2): 189-211. 2017.
    Art is commonly thought to promote well-being. Aestheticians, however, have not considered how art plays this role. Over the past quarter century, there has been considerable research in positive psychology, the empirical study of subjective well-being. This research has resulted in robust findings on the factors promoting well-being. In this paper, I consider the findings for SWB in contemporary psychology in order to identify how art supports well-being. I also explore the implications of SWB …Read more
  •  71
    Aesthetic Choice
    British Journal of Aesthetics 57 (3): 283-298. 2017.
    Our lives are filled with aesthetic choices, that is, choices of objects for aesthetic experience. Choice is crucial to having a fulfilling aesthetic life. Our immediate satisfaction and long term flourishing require the ability to generate rewarding aesthetic opportunities. A good aesthetic life is one of good aesthetic choices. Given the centrality of choice to a good aesthetic life, aesthetic theory is in need of an account of choice. However, aesthetic choice has gone unexamined. This paper …Read more
  •  25
    The Definition of Everyday Aesthetics.'
    Contemporary Aesthetics 11. 2013.
  •  83
    Aesthetic Experience in Everyday Life: A Reply to Dowling
    British Journal of Aesthetics 51 (4): 437-442. 2011.
  • Front Yards
    In Arnold Berleant (ed.), The Environment and the Arts, Ashgate Press. 2002.
  •  130
    Why artists starve
    Philosophy and Literature 31 (1): 142-148. 2007.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Why Artists StarveKevin MelchionneAlthough cultural types may fear being branded as philistines for saying so, a remarkable amount of contemporary art is so awful that the very fact and regularity of this awfulness is in want of an explanation. Outside the art world, this observation is jejune. Inside, it makes for immediate disqualification. Is there something about the most common artistic motivations and attitudes that make this a…Read more
  •  54
    Collecting as an art
    Philosophy and Literature 23 (1): 148-156. 1999.
  •  43
    Of bookworms and busybees: Cultural theory in the age of do-it-yourselfing
    Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 57 (2): 247-255. 1999.
  •  2
    Cultivation: Art and Aesthetics in Everyday Life
    Dissertation, State University of New York at Stony Brook. 1995.
    Cultivation: Art and Aesthetics in Everyday Life is an inquiry into everyday practices with an aesthetic dimension such as collecting, walking and domestic life. I examine the implications of a critical engagement with these practices for philosophical aesthetics and cultural studies. Traditional aesthetic theory has been informed by a fine arts model of creativity and aesthetic experience and, thus, has not adequately treated everyday aesthetic life. The rapidly expanding field of contemporary …Read more
  •  591
    A New Problem for Aesthetics
    Contemporary Aesthetics 9. 2011.
    The essay introduces the problem of aesthetic unreliability, the variety of ways in which it is difficult to grasp our aesthetic experience and the consequent confusion and unreliability of what we take as our taste.
  •  113
    On the Old Saw “I know nothing about art but I know what I like"
    Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 68 (2): 131-141. 2010.
    The theory of taste faces a neglected epistemological problem. The cultivation of taste is functionally dependent upon self-knowledge of aesthetic satisfaction and its causes, in other words, knowing what we like and why. However, reservations about the reliability of our knowledge of our responses, commonplace in social psychology and the philosophy of mind, pose serious obstacles to the theory of taste. I argue for a weak fallibilism with respect to introspective beliefs about aesthetic experi…Read more
  •  20
    Book Review: Collecting: An Unruly Passion: Psychological Perspectives (review)
    Philosophy and Literature 20 (2): 524-526. 1996.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Collecting: An Unruly Passion: Psychological PerspectivesKevin MelchionneCollecting: An Unruly Passion: Psychological Perspectives, by Werner Muensterberger; 295 pp. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1994, $29.95 cloth, $13.00 paper.Due to the growth of museum studies, collecting practices are receiving more attention these days. Muensterberger’s book is one of the more ambitious of recent studies in this area. He appl…Read more
  •  105
    Living in glass houses: Domesticity, interior decoration, and environmental aesthetics
    Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 56 (2): 191-200. 1998.
  •  485
    Acquired Taste
    Contemporary Aesthetics. 2007.
    Acquired taste is an integral part of the cultivation of taste. In this essay, I identify acquired taste as a form of intentional belief acquisition or adaptive preference formation, distinguishing it from ordinary or discovered taste. This account of acquired taste allows for the role of self-deception in the development of taste. I discuss the value of acquired taste in the overall development of taste as well as the ways that an over-reliance on acquired taste can distort overall taste.