Mediated autonomy. Ideal and Reality of Aesthetic Practice

The question of the relevance of art, design and other aesthetic phenomena is an integral part of philosophical discourse. In this context, there is also a discussion about the extent to which these phenomena are indispensable for ethical claims to a individually successful life and interpersonal togetherness. The research project explores this linkage of aesthetic and ethical questions in three steps: First, it investigates the extent to which aesthetic processes fundamentally formulate normative claims. The hypothesis here is: These processes are driven by human actions and thus are found in the field of tension between ideal conceptions and actual realizations. In order to concretize this thought, artistic and design perspectives are examined in terms of their ideals and claims for creativity, authenticity or intensity. Particular attention is paid to the question of the status accorded to productive and receptive agents in these aesthetic processes. In this way, it is determined to what extent aesthetic practices are accompanied by claims to exceptionality, but also to mediation between ordinary and exceptional aspects. This step is backed up by an analysis of selected examples from two contemporary borderlands of art and design: Digitalization and virtualization on the one hand and activism and participation on the other hand. Second, the integration of these considerations into more general normative contexts is examined. This is done by confronting artistic and everyday perspectives. In this way, it is explored how the ideals and claims of art and design worlds are compatible with late-modern realities of life and their own aesthetic demands. This second step is concretized by an analysis of examples for practiced everydayness and its aesthetic capacities. The focus lies on aesthetic practices in leisure activities. Third, the previous linking of aesthetic and ethical claims is concretized by a reference to practical subjecthood as intersection point of these claims. The orientation here is a model of autonomy that does not focus on control and demarcation, but on relatedness and mediation between ordinariness and exceptionality, the latter polarity being actualized here between being a dependent part of a bigger context and thriving for individuality. This concept of mediated autonomy is combined with the idea of an interplay between inside and outside in order to reach an approach to being a subject that is appropriate to the creative variety of human agency. Based on these three steps, it is finally argued for the position that the ethical relevance of aesthetic practices is shown by the fact that they bring their acting subjects into practical contact with their capacities and limits beyond one-sided ideals of isolated exceptionality.