Was kann uns Ästhetik heute noch bedeuten? Ästhetische (Lern-)Erfahrungen: eine Vignette und deren Lektüre

What educational possibilities are contained in aesthetic experience? Asking this and many more questions, the article shows how aesthetics, perception, experience, sensuality and art are interwoven. Aesthetics is principally equated with sensuous knowledge as defined by Alexander G. Baumgarten. The point of departure for explaining this practice is an anecdote of an eleven-year-old schoolgirl during an art lesson. It is a short, succinct story that captures a moment of aesthetic experience. The interpretation of this anecdote according to the process of phenomenological reduction shows that aesthetic experience is never purely visual but affects the entire body. And: aesthetic experience can only be developed if it is not instrumentalised and thus exposed to purposes dictated by others and previously defined interests to exploit it. The article concludes with questions about aesthetic education in adult education. (Ed.)