Friendship, Difference, and Aesthetic Discourse

This paper considers the implications of Alexander Nehamas’ theory of friendship for a recent debate concerning aesthetic discourse. Nick Riggle has argued against theories that hold that aesthetic discourse aims at convergence and has argued that it instead aims at the mutual appreciation of individuality, which he calls “vibing.” Nat Hansen and Zed Adams agree with Riggle's rejection of a strong convergence norm, but argue that we should also reject vibing as the aim of aesthetic discourse and instead adopt a theory according to which non-defective aesthetic discourse entails the hope of agreement. This paper argues that Nehamas’ theory of friendship reveals strong reasons to side with Riggle in this debate, because Hansen and Adams’ account cannot explain cases where we value our friends in part because of ways in which their sensibilities are different from our own.