Abstract
We have inquired into Shaftesbury's method of value-experience theory, especially in his Sensus Communis (1709). Empiricists analyse experience by braking it down to simple elements, and from these elements try to reconstitute experience theoretically. But in this process experience is transformed into its essence. Shaftesbury realizes that and inquires into value-experience that depends on sensus communis. Sensus communis is an internal value system which, I believe, is culture made concrete in an individual, that is, taste. He asks what is the condition for value-experience to occur. The condition, he finds, is disinterestedness. All value-experiences-ethical, aesthetic, theoretical-are disinterested. Shaftesbury defines human being as cultural existence and builds the foundation for the theory of value-experience. And in his theory of genius and character he stresses spontaneity and creativeness of mind.
