The Affective a Priori: A Look into Aesthetic Experience for Mikel Dufrenne

French philosopher and aesthetician, Mikel Dufrenne, is not such well-known in the phenomenological tradition, thought he was more concerned with aesthetics and art than his contemporary phenomenologists. In his book, The Phenomenology of Aesthetic Experience, he presents a phenomenological attitude, through merging aesthetics with art, which differentiates him from his contemporaries. In this book,he presents a new phenomenological definition of the a priori and considers the concept of the “affective a priori” as a main principle in the aesthetic experience.  This article attempts to clarify the concept of a priori in Dufrenne’s doctrine, and particularly the role of the affective a priori in the aesthetic experience, as the keys to a better understanding of his idea.