Aesthetics Commons^™

Initial Type Craft, Micah Angelus

Theses and Dissertations

What kinds of objects can still think when the self-contained aesthetic object can no longer be taken for granted? The historical ruptures that have placed painting under crisis have also brought into view the fallacy of artistic autonomy, raising questions about how value, contemplation, and meaning persist under conditions of deconstruction.

Emotions As Work Material: On Dancers' Refined Use Of Affectivity, Camille S. Buttingsrud

Duquesne Studies in Phenomenology

As part of their professional practice, dancers allow their affectivity to enhance their kinesthetic work. Their intentional and disciplined use of personal, emotional resources ensures both creativity, interpretation, absorption, and connections in ways that extend beyond the traditional phenomenological understanding of affectivity as pre-reflectively based. The affective regulations dancers employ can be seen as an “artistic epoché,” and their layered performance awareness corresponds with Edmund Husserl’s descriptions of “image-consciousness.” Through qualitative interviews with three professional dancers, phenomenological theory, and additional supportive literature, this article shows how affectivity can be experienced through high-order levels of Leib, constituting states of “bodily …

A Dualistic Interpretation Of Mathematical Creation Through Art And Argumentation, Sofia Almpani, Petros Stefaneas, Mihir Chakraborty

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Creativity, informal reasoning and dynamic exchange of ideas form the pulsating heart of mathematical creation. In this approach, the concept of a mathematical object surpasses conventional boundaries of formal presentation, as they also encompass the intention to prove, significant creative stages within the proving, and the overall experience of prover's journey, which may involve arguments, debates, discovery insights, aesthetic visualizations, and narrative elements. In this paper we present two conceptual frameworks, namely Argumentation-based Proof-Events Calculus (APEC) and Mathematical RUPAs, in order to provide distinct yet interconnected perspectives on informal thinking, knowledge creation, and proving in mathematics. Following the two perspectives, …

Arts-Based Sustainability: From New York To Malawi, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Recognizing that libraries serve multiple constituencies and subject areas, this chapter documents and advocates for development of transdisciplinary arts-based research (ABR) and culture-related projects linked to environmental challenges. Libraries contribute collections and spaces, as well as the research of library and information scientists. Libraries are currently among invisible contributors to sustainability planning and services. The chapter will link this invisibility to the value of what visual arts refer to as negative space elements in subjects ranging from traditional ecological knowledge to environmental science. Library collections, projects, and research contribute to education for sustainable development (ESD) as required to achieve the …

Artist-Theorist Invocation: Bracha Ettinger's Notebook Pages, Bracha L. Ettinger

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

[Editorial/Curatorial note] This special issue on Ettingerian Matrixial Theory, Education and the Arts opens with 10 pages of meta-feminist notes from Bracha Ettinger’s Notebooks, 2009-2011. Exhibited at Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy in 2021. All images © and courtesy of Bracha L. Ettinger.

A Taste For The Distasteful: The Aesthetics Of Gore In The Giallo And Horror Films Of Mario Bava, Thais Casado Bignardi-Engstrom

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the Italian experience with horror in cinema in both psychoanalytic feminist and cognitive Marxist critical film theories through a study of visual renderings of excessive violence and sex in gothic and thrillers known as giallo films created by the film director Mario Bava. This is an art historical study that looks at Bava’s work against the Italian cultural landscape in the post war period.

Does Art Pluralism Lead To Eliminativism?, P.D. Magnus, Christy Mag Uidhir

Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

Art pluralism is the view that there is no single, correct account of what art is. Instead, art is understood through a plurality of art concepts and with considerations that are different for particular arts. Although avowed pluralists have retained the word “art” in their discussions, it is natural to ask whether the considerations that motivate pluralism should lead us to abandon art talk altogether; that is, should pluralism lead to eliminativism? This paper addresses arguments both for and against this move. We ultimately argue that pluralism allows one to retain the word “art”, if one wants it, but only …

The Hospitality Of Doubt, Ian Grieve

Art Theses and Dissertations

This paper discusses the last two years of research toward a Master of Fine Art in Studio Art. I mainly address my painting practice, but while in the program, I have worked in collage, ceramics, intaglio printmaking, and sculpture. My paintings are thick, multilayered, and often contain ambiguous narratives. The pictures develop through engagement, openness, and response within the work. I seek and embrace connection with viewers of the work. The spectator ‘completes’ the art and enhances or alters the artworks meaning by observing it and applying their individual perspectives. I seek to incorporate a sense of nostalgia and familiarity. …

Speak Now To Forever Hold Your Piece: On Aesthetic Ownership And Interpretation, Spencer Heitman

Honors Theses

The primary objectives of this research are to describe ways in the interpretation of art-objects is shaped by their ownership and to endorse fan culture participation as a mechanism through which people might be led to aesthetic value. This analysis shall be grounded in an understanding of trust and shall point the reader toward care, noting that these phenomena positively correlate and help interpreters to receive meaning of more abundance and depth. It will be initially claimed that art interpretation is itself contribution to aesthetic dialogue with artists. This claim is grounded in an understanding of art’s communicative capacities and …

The Controversies Of (Immersion) Piss Christ And The Perfect Moment: An Argument For State Funding Of The Arts As An Extension Of Free Speech Protections, Olivia Fish

CMC Senior Theses

In 1989, artists Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). A short few months after the two artists became grant recipients, the funding for each of them was pulled as a result of escalating controversy and anger over the art created by both artists being funded by a federal organization. Those angered by the art and their respective grants tied the messaging of the art to the beliefs and values of the state—Serrano’s photograph being tied to a commentary on the overcommercialization of religion and Mapplethorpe’s exhibition being unabashedly queer and, at …

Reshaping Aesthetics And Aesthetic Sensibility In A Hybrid Environment, Aleksandra Łukaszewicz, Jakub Petri

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

The contemporary environment in developed countries is highly urbanized and technologized. It is not only physical but also virtual, created with the use of cyber-techniques and the internet. The two layers of the environment are: the physical places, persons, objects, etc., and the virtual – electronically-emerged places, persons, and objects, etc. Therefore, it is correct to overcome the enforced conceptual dualism between what is virtual and what is physical, as proposed by Michal Ostrowicki (aka Sidey Myoo) in calling for the recognition of the hybrid status of reality, by pointing to symbiosis within the context of lived experience. This raises …

Genres, Communities, And Practices, Evan Malone

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In this dissertation, I defend a communitarian, practice-based, theory of genre and aesthetic value. I argue that theories of aesthetic value and art ontology within analytic philosophy have been too focused on the intentions of individual artists, the features of individual works, and the aesthetic experience of individual audience members. Accordingly, philosophical accounts of genre also follow this model. However, taking genre seriously means recognizing that they are social categories. If this is right, then philosophy of art ought to pay closer attention to the ways in which genres (as social categories) mediate aesthetic practices, values, and concepts. By thinking …

Optimistic And A Little Flawed, Christian Schultz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The accompanying exhibition to this paper, Optimistic and Flawed is a body of drawings and objects that explores the liminal space between playful and intended actions. Inspired by the landscape of the yard and the actions that take place within, the goalless play of a child and the laborious maintenance of an adult. The value of play exists within labor and labor exists within play. The drawings observe this through the theoretical framework of telic and paratelic motivational states as they relate to drawing. Abstracted yards and landscapes provide a space for the labor of the hand. A history of …

Remembering Eden: A Study Of Garden Imagery In Judeo-Christian Worship Spaces, Luc Berard

Honors Student Works

Vases of flowers, a mural of wildlife, and poetic references to a garden, these artistic elements are all commonplace in Judeo-Christian worship spaces; but why? While all of these are certainly aesthetically pleasing, there is likely much more going on than mere interior decoration. This paper will begin by examining the source of garden imagery in the poetry of the Judeo-Christian tradition, demonstrating the significance and prevalence of Eden in the memory of the Judeo-Christian memory. Following this, the paper will then furnish and analyze several examples of Edenic imagery in the worship spaces, highlighting several important artistic elements shared …

Aesthetic Education In The Anthropocene, Nathaniel Williams

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This big picture study wrestles with the environmental crisis and the digital revolution, two grand themes of our century. Their grand scale is evident in their global significance, which we can anticipate will only grow in coming decades. Will these collective developments be met in such a way that democracy and individuality can be expanded and preserved? This study contributes to this query, offering a new articulation of aesthetic education that draws on a discourse reaching back to Friedrich Schiller, while incorporating many contemporary theorists. The study suggests that the environmental crisis and the digital revolution are creating a perfect …

Ordinary Monsters: Ethical Criticism And The Lives Of Artists, Christopher Bartel

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Should we take into account an artist’s personal moral failings when appreciating or evaluating the work? In this essay, I seek to expand Berys Gaut’s account of ethicism by showing how moral judgment of an artist’s private moral actions can figure in one’s overall evaluation of their work. To expand Gaut’s view, I argue that the artist’s personal morality is relevant to our evaluation of their work because we may only come to understand the point of view of the work, and therefore the work’s prescribed attitude, by examining the values, attitudes, and behaviors of the artist. This view is …

An Alternative To “Rules” In Practice Approaches To Distinguishing Art Kinds, Larry Shiner

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Numerous contemporary philosophers have invoked the idea that art is best understood as a social practice in order to distinguish among art kinds or to distinguish Art from closely related practices such as Design. Many general accounts of social practices and of art practices in particular claim that sets of shared assumptions or norms are a key constituent of practices. But some standard accounts of social practices interpret these shared norms with the concept of “rules” or “agreements.” I argue that the idea of rules or agreements is theoretically inadequate and should be replaced by what the philosopher of science, …

Superhero Movies And Politics: The Moral Obligations Of Film Makers According To Virtue Ethics, Russell Hendrickson

Senior Theses

The theory of virtue ethics implies that filmmakers have a moral obligation to explore political themes within superhero films. My thesis is comprised of four main sections. I begin by discussing the general theory of virtue ethics and what moral obligations are placed upon someone who subscribes to this moral theory. From there, I establish my argument for why film can be used as a tool of moral education, and I outline a framework for how artists can work to cultivate virtue in themselves through the use of Arnold Berleant’s Artists and Morality: Toward an Ethics of Art as a …

Enchantment: A Teleology, Nathanael S. Toth

Senior Honors Theses

Despite the highly developed nature of his fictional world, Middle-earth, Tolkien never formally laid out a tabulated magic system for his fantasy creation. Nevertheless, unlike many stories by others in the fantasy genre, the magic he does include is far from just a shallow, world-building mechanism. Instead, it encapsulates the core theme of his fiction and the purposes which Ilúvatar (the God of Middle-earth) has given to the story’s many characters.

This paper will examine the nature and function of this magic from many angles: the identification of good magic with art and evil magic with domination; the delineation between …

Painting Intimacy: Art-Based Research Of Intimacy, Michal Lev

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

This art-based research explores whether — and, if so, how — the process of painting, together with witnessing and reflection on the process and imagery, further an understanding of intimacy. The research also examines the conditions that favor intimacy, the obstacles to intimacy, and the particular features of artistic media, processes and reflection, through the editing of video footage, that can further the intimate experience. The participants in the study were five adults (including the researcher) between the ages of thirty and eighty who were familiar with the creation of visual art. Among them were three women and two men …

Charting New Territory: The Aesthetic Value Of Artistic Visions That Emanate In The Aftermath Of Severe Trauma, Tania Love Abramson, Paul R. Abramson

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

The Cosmography Of Aesthetics, Yrjö Sepänmaa

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

A Spectacle And Nothing Strange, Taylor Z. King

Theses and Dissertations

Working through methods of abstraction and comedic mimicry I choreograph awkwardly balanced sculpture with objects of adornment as a means to defuse personal sensitivities surrounding my experiences of gender, desire, and home. The research that follows is concerned with the adjacent, the in between, above and underneath, because I feel that this kind of looking means that you are, to some degree, aware of what lies at the edges. Maybe this is what Gertrude Stein means to act as though there is no use in a center—because this concerns a way of relating, though there are many things in the …

For The Sake Of The Intellect, Let Them Have Art: A Possible Reconciliation For The Value Of Mimetic Arts In The 'Republic', Breanna Liddell

Theses

This paper explores the possibility of a cohesive philosophy that recognizes both Plato’s concern about art as a moral danger in the Republic and the aesthete’s—a worthy adversary—position of art as something worth preserving. Plato understood the arts as mimêsis, or imitative and representational. Additionally, this paper suggests that Plato’s take on art extends beyond the limited realm of the performative arts that depict the misguided actions of Greek heroes and gods and how those arts positively or negatively impact the educational development of a citizen of the Republic. Rather, I assert that what he means by “art” is …

The Problem Of Thick Representation, Rafe Mcgregor

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to define the problem of thick representation and to show that the problem is a puzzle for representation rather than a puzzle for a specific art form or art, in general, as has previously been suggested. In the course of identifying and formulating the problem, I shall demonstrate why the solution proposed thus far fails to solve either the artistic problem at which it is aimed or the representational problem I define. I conclude by indicating two promising directions in which a solution might be found and by explaining the philosophical and critical …

Contextual Beliefs: A Creative Interpretation Of The Fictional Emotion Paradox, Amelia Richards

Conspectus Borealis

No abstract provided.

“Why (Not) Philosophy Of Stand-Up Comedy?”, Sheila Lintott

Faculty Contributions to Books

Stand-up comedy has been largely ignored by analytic philosophers of art, including those interested in comedy and humor. This is somewhat surprising, given the immense popularity of stand-up comedy and the rock star status enjoyed by some comedians today. I suspect that philosophers are just as likely to enjoy stand-up comedy as anyone else; in some cases (i.e. for some philosophers and some comedians), probably more likely. Here I offer some reasons philosophers of art should take the time to consider stand-up comedy and possible explanation for why philosophers of art have paid far less attention to stand-up comedy than …

Windows To The Divine: The Development Of Byzantine Art, Sam Klein

Tenor of Our Times

Byzantine art took significant inspiration form its Greco-Roman heritage but then distinguished itself through a shift in focus away from Hellenic realism and towards formal abstractions of Christian motifs. These conventions developed alongside political and theological turbulence to eventually influence a vast area of Asia Minor and Eastern Europe.

Art By Jerks, Bernard Wills, Jason Holt

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Is it wrong to enjoy art created by immoral people? Some people express discomfort with listening to or reading the works of artists who have been abusive to others in their personal lives. In this paper, the authors argue that, generally speaking, moral and aesthetic judgment should be kept distinct, as authors and their works formally differ. Indeed, works by morally dubious artists may well contain crucial acts of moral imagination we should not deprive ourselves of as ethical beings. Nonetheless, the authors argue there are limits to how far the ethical and aesthetic can be divorced. Art that is …

Art's Disclosive Dimensions: Reflections On The Work Of Peter London, Aaron Darrisaw

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

When I initially came to this project, I vaguely remembered hearing of Peter London once before – in passing perhaps. Yet I knew nothing really of his art or his work as an educator. Each day I came into work, however, I was met with a series of very interesting correspondences, articles, conference presentations, lecture notes, and more that offered a thoroughgoing vision of art as a personally, socially, and spiritually transformative and enriching enterprise. The collection contained document after document of valuable contributions to the instrumental role that art can and does play in opening up individuals to their …