Virginia Postrel: "The Aesthetic Imperative"

In her article entitled "The Aesthetic Imperative," Postrel claims that we as individuals place much more importance on the aesthetics of an object than we once did. "We want our vacuum cleaners and mobile phones to sparkle, our bathroom faucets and desk accessories to express our personalities," she says. While in the past we may have settled for a basic, no-frills laptop, we now expect it to come in our favorite color. Postrel also claims that, although aesthetic begins with a universal reaction, an object's effects on us are based in a personal and cultural context. Aesthetic is part of who we are. What I believe is beautiful is not necessarily what another person believes is beautiful; likewise, what I want my laptop to look like may be completely different than another person.

Postrel's data includes examples of the kinds of aesthetics we expect in our everyday lives. As mentioned above, Postrel refers to vacuum cleaners, mobile phones, bathroom faucets, and desk accessories. She also argues that we expect strip malls to offer "designer coffee, several different cuisines, a copy shop with do-it-yourself graphics workstations, and a nail salon for manicures on demand." In addition, Postrel offers expert opinions to support her claims, including quotations from David Brown, the former president of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Brown's expertise in this particular field makes him a strong candidate to provide "testamony" on aesthetics.

In creating warrants to link together her claims and data, Postrel utilizes ethos. We are expected to believe that her experts display some sense of competence on the subject -- although we would have to research these experts further in order to determine their credibility. Postrel also creates substantive warrants by describing a world in which individuals demand both beauty and function. We can compare this world created by Postrel with the world around us, and if we agree with her vision, we are led to accept her claims as truth.

I believe aesthetic is generally a good thing. It provides a way to distinguish ourselves from others, setting ourselves apart from the millions of other people in this country. For example, in the case of the laptop, I don't want to have the exact same laptop as every other student on campus. And although I'm not the only person with a blue laptop, it does signal to other people that I'm different. I also believe aesthetics make things more pleasing to look at, which is a good thing in my opinion. The only time I really don't believe that aesthetics are a good thing is when it becomes more important than substance or quality. Having a blue laptop is great, but if it doesn't operate as well as a basic silver laptop, what's the point? I think aesthetics is something that can and should be considered, but not until quality is first taken care of.