Add to ORKGAncient 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 combatting 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 o...