Contributions of aesthetics

The most tempting answer to the question posed as the topic for these remarks -- "what can aesthetics contribute to a young person's ability to understand and value art?" -- is "nothing", or, at least, "embarrassingly little". Aesthetics, after all, is a field of philosophy, and hence a field dedicated to the analysis of abstract, foundational questions rarely raised in everyday life. The concerns of aesthetics include metaphysical questions about the ontology of art, epistemological questions about valuational judgments in art, and ethical questions about the intersection of aesthetic and other values. But, as we all know, you can live your life, and you can furthermore enjoy and contribute to the arts, without any formal examination of questions like these.