Body Aesthetics and the Cultivation of Moral Virtues (2016) Yuriko Saito
The author makes a case for a ‘body aesthetics’ as a performative, embodied and positive means of translating ethics and ‘moral virtues’ into practice. Drawing on a variety of influences that ranges from Ethics of Care and German Aesthetics (Baumgarten, Schiller) to Zen Buddhism and Japanese classical literature, Saito proposes a transcultural practice that is built on carefully constructed and perceived ‘mundane everyday act(s)’ (2016, 231). These may include but are not limited to ‘the handling of objects, tone of voice, facial expressions and bodily movements’; all of them are described as aesthetic ‘in the original Greek sense’ of the term, that is to say pertaining to ‘sensory perception’ (2016, 227). More conventionally, those acts can be described as ‘manners,’ one of Saito’s declared intentions being to reconfigure the latter as a set of practices that can go beyond mere social etiquette. Indeed, they have the potential for becoming a form of ‘aesthetically minded bodily engagement’ that is defined by three main features. First, it applies to both human and non-human ‘others’ (2016, 234), the two of them equally deserving ‘respect, care and gentleness’ (2016, 231). Second, it is acquired and perfected through the practice of ‘body movements in daily life’ (2016, 239). Third, it is interpersonal and socially significant, lest it should indulge in mere ‘self-improvement’ (2016, 237). A body aesthetics that includes all three features can function as ‘social aesthetics,’ an ‘”activist”-oriented’ one (2016, 238) that may play a role ‘in cultivating moral sensibility, which … contributes to defining the quality of life and society’ (2016, 241).
Antonio Fornet Vivancos
Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena
Saito, Yuriko. ‘Body Aesthetics and the Cultivation of Moral Virtues.‘ In Body Aesthetics, edited
by Sherri Irvin, 225–43. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.