Research

RESEARCH OVERVIEW

My research advances a systematic account of aesthetic rationality grounded in structural coherence requirements. I challenge the prevailing assumption that aesthetics operates outside the scope of rational constraints, arguing instead that aesthetic engagement is governed by distinctive coherence principles analogous to those recognized in theoretical and practical reasoning. My foundational contribution is the defense of an Aesthetic Enkratic Principle (Martínez Marín, 2023), which establishes that rational agents are required to align their aesthetic judgments with their aesthetic likings—to like what they judge beautiful and dislike what they judge aesthetically deficient. I formulate this principle as a wide-scope rational requirement that prohibits certain combinations of attitudes while preserving the flexibility essential to aesthetic experience. By demonstrating that both affectivist and perceptualist accounts of aesthetic appreciation fail to accommodate this coherence requirement, I develop a hybrid view: aesthetic appreciation requires both perceptual discernment of aesthetic value and affective engagement that expresses one’s evaluative stance toward what is perceived (Martínez Marín & Schellekens, 2022).

I extend this structural account in two interconnected directions. First, I examine the normativity grounding aesthetic coherence requirements. While the AEP establishes what coherence demands, the question remains why such alignment matters aesthetically. My current work argues that the normative force derives from aesthetic respect. I understand aesthetic respect as an imperfect duty owed both to aesthetic objects as bearers of value and to oneself as an aesthetic agent. Persistent attitudinal incoherence violates this dual duty: it disrespects recognized aesthetic value while undermining one’s integrity as an appreciative subject. Understanding aesthetic respect as an imperfect duty resolves a central tension: it explains how aesthetic rationality imposes genuine normative constraints without sacrificing the exploratory, revisable character that distinguishes aesthetic from moral judgment (manuscript: The normativity of aesthetic coherence). The next phase of my project will provide deeper grounding for why aesthetic value specifically merits respect (rather than pleasure or mere belief), likely by connecting aesthetic value to the manifestation of rational order, intelligibility, and unity in objects—creating a fundamental parallel between objective rational structure and the subjective rational coherence required of appreciators. Together, these contributions establish aesthetic rationality as a distinctive but fully legitimate domain of structural rationality, with its own coherence requirements, normative foundations, and implications for how we understand proper aesthetic engagement.

PUBLICATIONS

Below you can find a list of selected publications.

Dissertation

1. (2023). Aesthetic Valuing and the Self.  Uppsala University. Main supervisor: Elisabeth Schellekens. Examining Commitee: Michael Brady (Glasgow University), Daniela Dover (University of Oxford), Eileen John (University of Warwick). Faculty Examiner: Keren Gorodeisky (Auburn University).

Papers and Book Chapters

2. (2024). Varieties of Aesthetic Autonomy. Philosophy Compass, 19: e70012. 

3. (2023). The Aesthetic Enkratic Principle. British Journal of Aesthetics, 63 (2):251–268. 

4.  (2022). Aesthetic Taste: Perceptual Discernment or Emotional Sensibility? In Perspectives on Taste. Edited by Jeremy Wyatt, Dan Zeman and Julia Zakkou.  Routledge. (Co-authored with Elisabeth Schellekens). Pre-print here.

5.  (2020). Non-Standard Emotions and Aesthetic Understanding, Estetika: The European Journal of Aesthetics, 2 (57):135–49. (Winner of the Fabian Dorsch Essay Prize).

6. (2019) Robinson and Self-Conscious Emotions: Appreciation beyond (fellow) feeling, Debates in Aesthetics, 14, 1: 74-94.

Book Reviews

7.  (2024). Educating Character through the Arts. Edited By Laura D’olimpio, Panos Paris, and Aidan P Thompson. Philosophical Quarterly, 74 (3): 1049-1052. 2024.

Popular Philosophy

8. (2025). Appreciating Taylor’s Versions: An Aesthetic Love Story. In Polite, B. (Ed.). Taylor Swift and the Philosophy of Re-recording: The Art of Taylor's Versions. Bloomsbury.

In preparation

• A paper on aesthetic self-transformation (under review)

• A paper on the normativity of aesthetic coherence (handout available)

• A paper on the beauty of rational coherence (with Jem Page).

• A paper on the philosophy of art collections (early days).