The Disgusting in Art

The study of the disgusting in art has for the most part been neglected throughout the history of aesthetics and philosophy of art. This thesis aims to contribute to remedying such a neglect. It develops an extensive examination of the kinds of ways in which the disgusting plays a role in art, with a special focus on its contribution to artistic and aesthetic value. The thesis does this by engaging, more than any other study in aesthetics or philosophy of art to date, with experimental work on the emotion of disgust. It also examines closely artists’ actual uses of the disgusting in art. The general approach of the thesis is to examine the peculiarities and similarities of the role of disgust in art, by comparison with the artistic role that other emotions have, especially negative or unpleasant emotions such as fear, anger and sadness. Among other things, the thesis articulates a moderate view of the value of disgusting art. On such a view, disgust is compatible with both artistic and aesthetic value and contributes to both kinds of value, while at the same time being a less artistically and aesthetically apt emotion than others. In particular, the thesis develops an integrationist account of the aesthetic value of disgusting art that appeals to disgust’s supporting role for other, more aesthetically apt emotions.