Walter Pater Une philosophie des sensations pour déjouer la mort

Because of life’s brevity, men have to extend their short lives through new sensations and experiences. Living an intense life thus appears as the only solution to the transience of existence. In this respect, Pater offers to refine our senses just as music instruments would. Most of the sensations are lived without anyone noticing, generally because of ingrained habits and poor attention. For that reason, the life that we really live is shorter. According to Pater, it could be possible to focus on these forgotten sensations in order to enrich our life. Art would then be the best path to experimenting our sensations for themselves.