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Philosophy

Aesthetics

Philosophy Faculty Research

2012

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

In Defence Of Higher-Order Musical Ontology: A Reply To Lee B. Brown, Andrew Kania Jan 2012

In Defence Of Higher-Order Musical Ontology: A Reply To Lee B. Brown, Andrew Kania

Philosophy Faculty Research

In a recent article in this journal, Lee B. Brown criticizes one central kind of project in higher-order musical ontology—the project of offering an ontological theory of a particular musical tradition. I defend this kind of project by replying to Brown’s critique, arguing that musical practices are not untheorizably messy, and that a suitably subtle descriptivist ontology of a given practice can be valuable both theoretically and practically.


A Musical Photograph?, Richard Beaudoin, Andrew Kania Jan 2012

A Musical Photograph?, Richard Beaudoin, Andrew Kania

Philosophy Faculty Research

This article compares two objects: a photographic negative made by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1835 and the score of a solo piano work composed by Richard Beaudoin in 2009. Talbot’s negative has come to be known as Latticed Window (with the Camera Obscura), August 1835, and Beaudoin’s musical composition is called Étude d’un prélude VII—Latticed Window. As suggested by their titles, the composition owes a debt to the negative and thereby joins a long list of musical compositions indebted to particular visual images. However, the relationship is deeper, and by explicating their respective ontologies, we hope …


Concepts Of Pornography: Aesthetics, Feminism, And Methodology, Andrew Kania Jan 2012

Concepts Of Pornography: Aesthetics, Feminism, And Methodology, Andrew Kania

Philosophy Faculty Research

There are two broadly philosophical literatures on pornography. By far the largest is concerned with moral issues raised by pornography. This literature falls into two phases. The first phase comprises the debate between moral conservatives, who objected to pornography on the grounds of its explicit sexual nature, and liberals, who defended pornography on grounds of something like freedom of speech or expression. Though this debate is not stone cold, the liberals seem to have won it. However, it has been largely replaced by a different one between feminists who object to pornography on the basis that it contributes to the …