This paper argues that aesthetic value can arise from aesthetic resonance, a psychological experience of connection that generates an imagined aesthetic community. While Riggle (2024) locates aesthetic value in shared practices, this view struggles to account for solitary and cross-temporal experiences and risks treating them as merely instrumental. I propose that, in aesthetic experience, individuals can imaginatively resonate with others—viewers, listeners, or artists—without actual interaction. This process forms a psychologically real but imagined community, extending across time. Drawing on Anderson’s notion of imagined communities, I argue that such resonance generates intersubjective meaning and a sense of connection, thereby constituting aesthetic value. It also provides a psychological basis for, and may motivate engagement in, practice-based aesthetic communities.
I am currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Sydney. My primary research interests lie in aesthetics, analytic philosophy, and the philosophy of games.
Thursday July 9, 2026 2:00pm - 2:55pm NZST MSB1.20
