Between form and content: affective generalization in Art

Abstract

This article continues Vygotsky’s efforts in investigating the social genesis of affective generalization in artistic creative and reception process proposed in On the problem of the psychology of the actor’s creative work. Affective generalization abstracts emotions and feelings from the individual to the social plane and from the mundane to the hyper-generalized level. Based on an examination of Vygotsky’s aesthetic ideas, we introduced Chinese philosopher Defeng Wang’s work in philosophy of art under the existential approach. Finally, we propose to adopt the cultural psychology of semiotic mediation as a framework to capture this dynamic process.