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Yuriko Saito

Yuriko Saito is a philosopher at the Rhode Island School of Design whose work helped establish everyday aesthetics as a field. Rejecting the restriction…

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b. 1953 · United States (Rhode Island School of Design)

Traditions: Analytic

Yuriko Saito is a philosopher at the Rhode Island School of Design whose work helped establish everyday aesthetics as a field. Rejecting the restriction of aesthetics to fine art and exceptional experiences, she examines the aesthetic dimensions of ordinary objects and activities such as cleaning, cooking, wear and weathering, and argues that these judgements have moral, social and environmental consequences. She also draws on the Japanese aesthetic tradition and has written on environmental aesthetics and on care.

Key ideas

  • Aesthetics is not limited to art: everyday objects and activities have aesthetic character.
  • Everyday aesthetic preferences have moral, social and environmental consequences.
  • Japanese aesthetics offers resources for appreciating imperfection, transience and the ordinary.
  • Aesthetic sensibility can be cultivated to support care for people and things.

Major works

  • Everyday Aesthetics (2007)
  • Aesthetics of the Familiar: Everyday Life and World-Making (2017)
  • Aesthetics of Care: Practice in Everyday Life (2022)

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