Even though aesthetics and affordances are two important factors based on which designers provide effective ways of interaction through their artifacts, there is no study or theoretical model that relates these two aspects of design. We suggest a theoretical explanation that relates the underlying functionality of aesthetics, in particular, of interaction aesthetics and of affordances in the design process. Our claim is that interaction aesthetics are one among other factors that allow users to enhance the detection of action possibilities and (...) consequently, the detection of affordances. Our aim is first to discuss the role of interaction aesthetics in the design process, and second to suggest an explanation for their role in the detection of affordances when users interact with artifacts. (shrink)

Dewey's book "Art as Experience", can be considered as a manifesto of pragmatist aesthetics, in which Dewey uses the insights of Darwinian theory of evolution and his pragmatist principles through focusing on the concept of "experience" and aesthetic experience, to bring art back to the everyday life of human beings in today's world. Although, Dewey's view of experience in its general sense, as an interaction between human and his/her environment, has a Darwinian basis, but as Dewey's analysis shows, especially in (...) his describing about the aesthetic experience, the concept of experience goes beyond the Darwinian conception and takes cultural and social dimensions. In this article, meanwhile reviewing the meaning of experience in Dewey's thinking and the relationship between aesthetic experience and the experience in its general sense, we try to show the connection between art and life by relying on Dewey's views in "Art as Experience". In addition, we attempt to demonstrate, most of the examples that Dewey cites as the basis of aesthetic experiences are positive life experiences, and by doing so, he unintentionality ignores negative experiences and reduces the circle of aesthetic experience to pleasant experiences. (shrink)

Nowadays, aesthetics are generally considered as a crucial aspect that affects the way we confront things, events, and states of affairs. However, the functional role of aesthetics in the interaction between agent and environment has not been addressed effectively. Our objective here is to provide an explanation concerning the role of aesthetics, and especially, of the aesthetic experience as a fundamental bodily and emotional activity in the respective interactions. An explanation of the functional role of the aesthetic experience could offer (...) new orientations to our understanding of embodied cognition and of aesthetics as a fundamental part of it. We argue that aesthetic experience, especially its emotional dimension, is an evaluative process that influences the anticipation for stable and successful interactions with the environment. In other words, aesthetics facilitates sense-making as they affect what might be anticipated by an action tendency with respect to an environment. (shrink)