Forms of Experience and the System of the Arts: An Introduction

This introduction presents the rationale of the special issue ‘Forms of Experience and the System of the Arts’ and the two key notions that are brought together in its title. First, it clarifies the issue’s guiding hypothesis: that the varieties of experience can help us to understand both how different arts can be unified within a system and how their specificities can be understood within that system. Second, it shows how the individual contributions to the issue explore this possibility from different points of view. Finally, it suggests possible avenues for future research.