The study is a contribution to the history of the theory of aesthetic thinking in the 18th century using the concept of emotion as its guide. Using an extended notion of aesthetics, texts are drawn upon from philosophical affect theory, from experiential psychology, anthropology and art theory from Descartes via German popular philosophy, and exemplary readings are used to show the basis for turning to the aesthetic subject, to feeling in the discourse of aesthetics in the late 18th century.