Abstract
Ancient theories in artwork, ranging from Plato to Confucius, have conceived art through an objective lens where in order for the piece to be considered beautiful, the art must indicate strong ethics. However, as the concept of universal ethics dissolved throughout time, it seems so would theories of aesthetics. The focus of this essay is to establish grounds for how and why the beautiful can only be experienced through the subjective lens where our aesthetic sensibilities take primacy within the experience of the beautiful. In combating these ancient theories of artwork, I will use instrumental music as platform for deconstructing ethicism. Then, under the application of instrumental music, I will use Indian rasa theory, Kant’s judgment of the beautiful, and Heideggarian terms, in order to reveal how the experience of the beautiful is fully contingent on the perceiver and his or her relationship with the artwork being presented within the current moment.