So I think you are right about the way aesthetics power ethical reasoning, and I think aesthetics is just a waypoint on the causal mechanism of generating ethical judgements, because aesthetics are ultimately about what we value (how we compare things for various purposes), and what we value is a function of valence. So to the extent I agree it’s to the extent that I see ethics and aesthetics as applications of valence to different domains.
So I think you are right about the way aesthetics power ethical reasoning, and I think aesthetics is just a waypoint on the causal mechanism of generating ethical judgements, because aesthetics are ultimately about what we value (how we compare things for various purposes), and what we value is a function of valence. So to the extent I agree it’s to the extent that I see ethics and aesthetics as applications of valence to different domains.