Francis Hutcheson’s On The Basis of Aesthetic Pleasure: With an Emphasis on Musical Pleasure from Silence

For Hutcheson, the pleasure of beauty has a natural source like virtue. An aesthetic experience is a kind of intrinsic experience that has nothing to do with academic education, but reflection is a necessary condition for it. This view provides a way of getting rid of the objective tradition, for a kind of inner sense is responsible for the judgment of beauty which there is no specific organ for it. It is as real as the external senses. This sensation has nothing to do with cognitive and useful indicators. Good ear (or good taste) is necessary, most people have a good sense of hearing whiles they all do not enjoy the symphony. It shows that a healthy ear isn’t sufficient condition but we need a good ear. This research is a philosophical explanation for aesthetic pleasure, of course by explaining and expanding Hutcheson’s comment with considering Cage’s Silence. The purpose of this research is to identify the share of the audience and artwork in aesthetic pleasure through studying the basis of aesthetic pleasure by describing and analyzing the collected data through a library study and internet search.