Philosophy Commons^™

Against The Ubiquity Of Fictional Narrators, Andrew Kania

Philosophy Faculty Research

In this paper I argue against the theory – popular among theorists of narrative artworks – that we must posit a fictional narrative agent in every narrative artwork in order to explain our imaginative engagement with such works. I accept that every narrative must have a narrator, but I argue that in some central literary cases the narrator is not a fictional agent, but rather the actual author of the work. My criticisms focus on the strongest argument for the ubiquity of fictional narrators, Jerrold Levinson’s ontological-gap argument. Finally, I outline an alternative “minimal theory” of narrators, and some consequences …

Foucault And Habermas, David Ingram

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The article is a comprehensive comparison of Foucault and Habermas which focuses on their distinctive styles of critical theory. The article maintains that Foucault's virtue ethical understanding of aesthetic self-realization as a form of resistance to normalizing practices provides counterpoint to Habermas's more juridical approach to institutional justice and the critique of ideology. The article contains an extensive discussion of their respective treatments of speech action, both strategic and communicative, and concludes by addressing Foucault's understanding of parrhesia as a non-discursive form of truth-telling.

The Evolution And Revolutions Of The Networked Art Aesthetic, Jeanne Marie Kusina

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Mail art, artist books, artist amps, assemblings, experimental and visual poetry, Email art, video, and performance art have all, at various times, been considered members of the loosely configured classification known as "Networked art". Yet the common thread associating these diverse media is not the manner of their production, but rather the dynamic way in which they are distributed throughout artist networks. Emphasizing communication and generosity, Networked artists attempt to subvert conventional systems of exchange while also maintaining an intimacy of expression. I will discuss these qualities and how they often evolve from subtle attempts to undermine an allegedly flawed …

Aesthetics And Mobility - A Short Introduction Into A Moving Field, Ossi Naukkarinen

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Aesthetics cannot by any means be defined only as philosophy of art. Everything can be approached from an aesthetic standpoint. Aesthetically interesting ways to move about can be found in most everyday situations. Our everyday mobility consists of various ways of getting about, and sometimes our approach to them is aesthetically colored. That we move in different ways and link them with aesthetic considerations of some sort is deeply rooted in our thinking. Our bodily experiences of the world are typically movement experiences, and our conceptual thinking is also built on them: We simply cannot make sense of the world …

Carrying The Jade Tablet: A Consideration Of Confucian Artistry, Eric C. Mullis

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

In this paper I discuss the aesthetic dimension of ritual action. In order to demonstrate how the rites render action aesthetically expressive, I draw on the notion of an "art of context" and further detail the Confucian understanding of artistic practice as an essential component for moral cultivation. In turn, I use John Dewey's account of aesthetic form in order to support and further demonstrate the ability of the rituals and arts to organize action and to thereby render it aesthetically significant. However, Dewey's account entails that we question either conceptual or institutional limitations of aesthetic form as such limitations …

Editorial

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

Notices

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

Recent Publications

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

Foucault, Enlightenment And The Aesthetics Of The Self, Anita Seppä

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Mona Hatoum's video installation Corps étranger is an example of an artwork that critically comments on particular aspects of contemporary visual culture, such as the colonization of the body's interior by medical image technologies. It has indeed been interpreted in those terms by several authors from within the new academic field of Visual Culture. Here it is argued that the critical cultural impact of the installation might be more fully described when one grants art a relative autonomy within the cultural field and, moreover, draws on concepts from more traditional academic disciplines and approaches, such as aesthetics and phenomenology. Art …

Narrative Understanding And Understanding Narrative, Sarah E. Worth

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

In this paper I deal with the question of how it is that we have emotional responses to things that we do not believe in the reality of, specifically things like characters and events in literature and film (the paradox of fiction). The direction in which I wish to take this query is not the traditional philosophical approach to this question, however. There has been much written on this particular approach, and because of this I think that it is becoming, in philosophical effect, stuck. What I wish to do in what follows is to approach this question from a …

Notices

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

Recent Publications

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

Between Battlefield And Play: Art And Aesthetics In Visual Culture, Renée Van De Vall

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Mona Hatoum's video installation Corps étranger is an example of an artwork that critically comments on particular aspects of contemporary visual culture, such as the colonization of the body's interior by medical image technologies. It has indeed been interpreted in those terms by several authors from within the new academic field of Visual Culture. Here it is argued that the critical cultural impact of the installation might be more fully described when one grants art a relative autonomy within the cultural field and, moreover, draws on concepts from more traditional academic disciplines and approaches, such as aesthetics and phenomenology. Art …

Editorial

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

Sculpture, Curtis Carter

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Paradox And Metaphor: An Integrity Of The Arts, Lawrence Kimmel

Philosophy Faculty Research

Art is movement, movement is life. Surprisingly, the spareness of paradox in art promotes a fullness of life. We must first speak as simply as possible about art as a fundamental human activity. Only then can we hope to say something of consequence about the so-called “fine arts” — which may be misleading as a description. In substance, the reference “fine art” simply means useless art: “fine” as being free from utility. Art is imaginatively productive, it makes something, whether painting, poem, or partita. But this making has no independent utility, and its character as a work of art …

Migrations, Curtis Carter

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

The Self-Growth Of Vision And The Self-Repose Of Color: A Heideggerian Meditation On The Studio Paintings Of Jean Koeller, Charles Taylor

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Lulu And The Flying Babies (1988) By Posy Simmonds, Gareth B. Matthews

Picture Books

It was snowing by the time Lulu’s family arrived at the park, so her parents took them to the museum next door. Lulu sulked and protested: “Don’t want to see the pictures!” so her parents left her sitting on a couch. A winged cherub climbed down from a painting hanging above her and flew Lulu into the winter scene of a Flemish painting, then into other paintings where they splashed in the sea, growled at a tiger, rode a horse, and fell off a cliff. Artists, poets, and writers give us ways of escaping our world, but they also give …

Book Review Of, Nietzsche's Philosophy Of Science: Reflecting Science On The Ground Of Art And Life, R. Kevin Hill

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reviews the book "Nietzsche's Philosophy of Science: Reflecting Science on the Ground of Art and Life" by Babette Babich

An Analysis Of Isenberg's Aesthetic Theory And Its Application To The Works Of Monet And Smokey, Tracee Elizabeth Gross

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy, which attempts to define art using a set of purported characteristics that, when applied to particular pieces, will aid in making discriminations between art and non-art. Aesthetics also traditionally examines the creation, appreciation, and criticism of art. Theories of aesthetics are constructed to assist one in making judgments as to whether or not a piece is art or is beautiful. Ideally, theories serve two primary tasks. The first is to provide an explanation, which will aid in separating out those items not covered in the scope of the theory. Also, theories are used as …

New Directions : Dewey, Aesthetics, And Psychology, David Clark

Honors Theses

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether psychological information is relevant to solving aesthetic problems. Along the way I will point out that there are disparate senses of the word "psychology" and I will show how John Dewey can be perceived historically as an early contributor to what we now call "cultural psychology", which I believe is a viable alternative to experimental aesthetics.

High Art, Folk Art, And Other Social Distinctions, Gary Shapiro

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Most discussions of the arts by critics and philosophers could be characterized in terms of a rather studied neglect of folk and popular art. This neglect is hardly absolute, however, for it is important in order to articulate a specific conception of aesthetic taste, beauty, or style to contrast the standard being used or praised with some other, less desirable, even degraded way of producing or appreciating something similar. It is perhaps more than a historical coincidence that the formation of the modern concept of taste and aesthetic judgment, in the eighteenth century, coincides roughly with the discovery and valorization …

1. Harry Prime (Novel), Matthew Lipman

Adult Education Curriculum

Like the other Students in the Thinking and Learning Environment, Harry Prime has enrolled in an evening course in search of his High School Equivalency Certificate. Before long, he and his friends discover that some ways of thinking are better than others. They promptly turn their newfound powers of critical reasoning upon such matters as science, art, religion, education and mind. As they proceed with their discussions, they disclose what it is to form a community of inquiry.

Harry Prime (like Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery, another philosophical novel by Matthew Lipman) is a fictional introduction to philosophy and logic. Some …

Objectivity And Aesthetic Judgment, Glenn Poskocil

Honors Theses

Where do we draw the line between what is and is not a work of art? and, how are we to distinguish between so called "good" and "bad" works of art? There is a tendency to blur the distinction between these questions because they seem, in certain senses, to be inextricably bound to one another. It is not uncommon, for instance, to hear someone praise something by referring to it as a "work of art," yet most of us agree that not all works of art are "good," even in the aesthetic sense. Too often this distinction is muddled by …

Robert A. Heinlein: A Philosophical Novelist, Marie Guthrie

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Robert A. Heinlein is a key figure in the development of American science fiction. What makes his contribution unique is his emphasis on philosophical speculation. Heinlein's program is based on rationality as a vital element to salvation. Although the importance of rationality is an aspect of many schools of philosophy particular value may be gained by comparing Heinlein's system with the philosophy of Plotinus. An examination of Heinlein's key works (Stranger in a Strange Land. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast--. And various short stories I provides ample evidence to support …

From The Sublime To The Political: Some Historical Notes, Gary Shapiro

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Let me document my suggestion that modernist poetics tends to give a privileged position to what has traditionally been known as the sublime by adducing two examples from rather disparate traditions. Martin Heidegger's ontological poetics can reasonably be viewed as a renewal of the aesthetics of the sublime -- although Heidegger never uses the term sublime, so far as I know -- and is explicitly hostile to the limitations of aesthetics, conceived as an autonomous study of a certain kind of experience. Harold Bloom does recur to the Romantic terminology of sublimity in his attempt to construct a poetics which …

04. Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery, Matthew Lipman, Ann Margaret Sharp, Frederick S. Oscanyan

Middle School Curriculum

This instructional manual includes hundreds of short, accessible explanations of the philosophical ideas and issues written into HARRY the novel, and as such is a valuable introduction to philosophy. Adults with no experience in academic philosophy will have no trouble using this manual to engage young people in philosophical dialogue. The manual provides discussion plans and exercises to help the students think for themselves about the philosophical ideas most relevant to their experience. The manual is also a primer in critical thinking and formal and informal logic, which are treated as helpful tools for inquiry. Students will find the logic …

Richard M. Moyle's Review Of Steven Feld's Sound And Sentiment: Birds, Weeping, Poetics, And Song In Kaluli Expression, Richard M. Moyle

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Leese Webster (1979) By Ursula K. Le Guin, Gareth B. Matthews

Picture Books

Leese was a spider, born in a palace throne room. Like other members of the “Webster” family, Leese knew how to spin an elegant and efficient web of traditional design. But then she started to produce webs of original designs like the flowers portrayed in the carpet and the huntsmen and hounds in a painting. Were these images pictures? Many animal species dance, adorn themselves, and build elaborate nests to attract mates. Can they be more and less aesthetically gifted? Authorities had Leese’s webs encased in glass and put on exhibit. Did that change their metaphysical status?