Aesthetics and Children's Picture-Books

Autor/in	Leddy, Thomas
Titel	Aesthetics and Children's Picture-Books
Quelle	In: Journal of Aesthetic Education, 36 (2002) 4, S.43-54 (12 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0021-8510
Schlagwörter	Age Differences; Picture Books; Childrens Literature; Aesthetic Education; Aesthetics; Imagination + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied; Picture book; Bilderbuch; 'Children''s literature'; Kinderliteratur; Ästhetische Bildung; Ästhetik
Abstract	Some writers on children's picture-books seem to believe that comfort and reassurance are their most important goals. Yet these books may also provide a context for imaginative adventure, and even for a journey into the dark night of the soul. As Nietzsche would put it, there is a Dionysian as well as an Apollonian element in children's picture-books. Someone might argue that basing aesthetics almost exclusively on adult perception is ageist. If sexism is wrong because it valorizes an exclusively male perspective, then adultism is wrong because it valorizes the adult perspective. Aestheticians generally give more credit to adult aesthetic perceptions than to those of children. But, perhaps there is nothing wrong with privileging the adult perspective. After all, adults have a natural authority over children. They are expected to take care of and educate them. The critic of adultism might reply that this position is no more warranted than the superiority once given to slave-owners over slaves, or to men over women. Yet, part of what is meant by the equality of slaves to owners and of women to men is that they should not be treated as children. It would seem crazy, for example, to accuse adults of adultism when they teach their own moral views to their children. Yet, it may be replied, this is just one of those places where aesthetics and ethics are not analogous: even if children should be treated as inferiors with respect to moral perception, this is no reason to treat them as inferiors with respect to aesthetic perception. Although their aesthetic perceptions are different, and are certainly less sophisticated, they are perhaps equally valuable, at least to the "experiencers." In this article, the author does not advocate replacing the adult-centered aesthetics with a child-centered aesthetics. But it does seem reasonable to replace it with one that is not completely focused on one age group. It is arguable that, since all adult humans were once children, the aesthetic tendencies, assumptions, and theories they have "now" are based, at least in part, on the ones they had as children, although perhaps not consciously so. (Contains 18 notes.) (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	University of Illinois Press. 1325 South Oak Street, Champaign, IL 61820-6903. Tel: 217-244-0626; Fax: 217-244-8082; e-mail: journals@uillinois.edu; Web site: http://www.press.uillinois.edu/journals/main.html
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10