Chisetsu as a Generative Phenomenon: A Relational Theory of Aesthetic Evaluation

This work proposes a relational and process-based account of the evaluative term Chisetsu (稚拙; often translated as “crudity” or “awkwardness” in artistic production). Rather than treating shisetsu as an intrinsic property of artworks or a deficit in technical skill, the study redefines it as a generative phenomenon emerging within the dynamic interaction between perception, cognition, and language. The study introduces the concept of “generative phenomenon” to emphasize the temporal and recursive production of evaluative experience. In contrast to phenomenological constitution or constructivist accounts of meaning, the generative approach focuses on how evaluative language itself arises, stabilizes, and transforms through interpretive cycles. Methodologically, the analysis is structured into three interrelated phases: observation, cognitive formation, and linguistic articulation. These phases are not sequential but mutually constitutive, forming a recursive structure through which evaluation emerges. To clarify this framework, the study provides a brief illustrative analysis of a simple visual artifact, demonstrating how the evaluative category shisetsu arises not from the object itself, but from relational configurations involving perceptual expectation, interpretive processes, and linguistic framing. The study is grounded in phenomenological and hermeneutic traditions (Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Gadamer, Dewey) while shifting the analytical focus toward the generation of evaluative language itself. Ultimately, the work argues that artworks should be understood not as fixed objects of judgment but as experiential events constituted through recursive interaction between perception, interpretation, and language.