Article constitutes an attempt to conceptualize the so-called natural or neutral standpoint towards phenomena of reality, and to reveal its impact upon aesthetic investigations. It is suggested that a natural standpoint can be linked with the general meanings lying at the basis of personal experience. Contrary to actual meanings, which manifest themselves in the realm of empirical interpretation and are contextbound, general meanings are, to a large extent, context-free. The article proposes some arguments in favour of the view according to which many fruitful solutions to aesthetic problems can be found by taking into account the conception of the context-bound meaning. The heuristic role of this concept is shown by way of examination of the so-called paradoxes of tragedy and fiction. The discussion provided in the article allows us to conclude that contextual or context-bound meaning plays a significant role in aesthetics as its theoretical principle
