Abstract
The discussion on the nature of the affective in phenomenology can be traced back to the debate on the universality of the aesthetic affective in modern epistemological aesthetics. Dufrenne interpreted it from the perspective of genetic phenomenology and identified it as a problem of “affective a priori.” The “affective” is an object of feeling triggered by the work and constituted by the subject; and “a priori” is a means of preforming the object within the subject. As the constituent structure of the object, the affective a priori indicates the unity of the objective cosmological a priori and the subjective existential a priori. As the existential attitude of the subject, the affective a priori is based on the a priori of presentation and the a priori of representation in aesthetic perception. Our understanding of the affective qualities relies on our a priori knowledge that is formed in advance, that is, affective categories, which run through our feelings of the affective qualities as a mode of being. As the product of intersubjective behavior, “habitus” constitutes the existential depth of the personal ego. The transcendental subject of aesthetics can attain the universality of aesthetic affective solely via communicating with others from the deep self.
Keywords
Dufrenne, genetic phenomenology, affective, a priori
First Page
178
Last Page
184
Recommended Citation
Huang, Ziming. 2025. "Dufrenne's Genetic Phenomenological Explanation of “Affective A Priori”." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 44, (6): pp.178-184. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol44/iss6/18
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