Aesthetics for Birds

Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art for Everyone

October 28, 2016
by Aesthetics for Birds
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Leiter Rankings of Aesthetics Grad Programs

From Leiter Reports, the 2016-2017 Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art grad program rankings. Group 1 (1-5) City University of New York Graduate Center New York University University of British Columbia University of St Andrews/University of Stirling Joint Program University of York Group 2 (6-10) Brown University Columbia University (incl. Barnard) University of Auckland University of Leeds University of Maryland, College Park Group 3 (11-17) Birkbeck College, University of London McGill University Princeton University Stanford University University of Manchester University of Texas, Austin University of Warwick (Note:   Michigan was close to Group 3 [I think it was underrated in 2014, and should be at least in Group 2]; also take note of the programs not evaluated in 2014 but that were viewed as worth recommending by the Advisory Board”  Buffalo, Temple, Hull, Oklahoma & Southampton.  Stanford’s presence on the list is due primarily to a part-time visiting appointment of the distinguished philosopher of … Continue reading

May 3, 2016
by Aesthetics for Birds
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Elisa Caldarola on Becoming an Analytic Aesthetician

Elisa Caldarola, an Italian philosopher working in analytic aesthetics, has written an illuminating piece for cheFare about her education and academic career so far. Her story starts: I earned a philosophy degree in my native country, Italy. I enrolled, at eighteen, because I wanted to understand art through philosophy. I had this idea that art could give meaning to life and that philosophy could explain how this is. And then she fell down the rabbit hole of contemporary analytic philosophy to try to answer this question. [A]t Oxford I finally realized that there were some intermediate stops I couldn’t bypass: I had to turn myself into an analytic philosopher and, concomitantly, into one who thinks in English and writes in English, because that was the language of analytic philosophy. So my question about art in general had turned into a question about how pictures work, which had brought to the … Continue reading

June 16, 2015
by Aesthetics for Birds
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Diversity Reading List

This announcement comes courtesy of Simon Fokt (Leeds) The Diversity Reading List enables teachers to quickly locate high-quality texts from under-represented groups that are directly relevant to their teaching. Currently, the list focuses on ethics, but in the near future it will be expanded to all areas of philosophy. The List exists largely thanks to the involvement and recommendations of all those who care about making philosophy a discipline of equal opportunity. It is a new and evolving resource, and we would welcome recommendations of texts to be included. We also encourage you to share your experiences of using specific texts in teaching by posting comments to particular list entries. Please use our Contribute page for recommendations and all other comments and suggestions.

April 15, 2015
by Aesthetics for Birds
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Philosophers’ Carnival #174

Welcome to the 174thPhilosophers’ Carnival.  My apologies for getting this to you so late. I had to bring the place up to code.  Please Enjoy the Rides. ******************************* Let’s kick out the blogospheric jams first with some Aesthetics for Birds. AFB has a real treat for all you art-lovers: An Interview with Rachel Hecker, award-winning visual artist and painter. ******************************* Those hungry for some Collingwood & Dewey should head on over to Bag of Raisins to strap on the positive feedbagback loop of beauty (patent pending). ******************************* Over at The Prosblogion, Rik Peels deals a blow to lazy atheists everywhere by arguing the belief that God does not exist cannot be produced by a mechanism that is both truth-oriented and reliable. As such, atheism cannot be a properly basic belief—i.e., must get its warrant from argument. ******************************* Yet another entry in the seemingly endless nightmare that is the human brain can be found … Continue reading

April 9, 2015
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Philosophers’ Advice for Working in Aesthetics

This is a neat little video that features several prominent Aestheticians offering nuggets, snippets, and travel-size bits of professional advice for those interested in working in the field. **Warning: the video gets a bit wonky around the 5:43 mark.** https://player.vimeo.com/video/124534459 INTERACT Career Advice from Eleen Deprez on Vimeo. Thanks to the INTERACT folks for doing this (and also for wisely editing out the super-dark turns my own interview started to take like some Chicken Soup for the Soul book written by Todd Solondz). 

December 9, 2014
by Aesthetics for Birds
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Philosophical Gourmet Report & Philosophy of Art Specialty Rankings

The 2014 Philosophical Gourmet Report is now live (here) along with the results of the Philosophy of Art Specialty Rankings (here). A few initial observations to get some discussion going: 1. As has always been the case, the rankings are largely based upon the presence of a single senior faculty member working in the field. 2. Here’s a quick breakdown of the seven evaluators for the Philosophy of Art Specialty Ranking: # of women: 0/7 # who work primarily in History of Philosophy: 3/7 # of junior faculty: 1/7 # with degrees from US programs: 4/7 # with positions that are currently or have primarily been located outside US: 5/7 3. I’d be interested to see how the rankings square with the data collected here, here, and here.

May 27, 2014
by Aesthetics for Birds
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Ergo Launches 1st Issue

Ergo, an Open Access Journal of Philosophy published its first issue today.   The first issue includes four papers plus an editorial with the data about submissions and turnaround times. Managing Editors Jonathan Weisberg & Franz Huber (Toronto) have really done an outstanding job. It’s a shame that more philosophers of art didn’t submit something. Also, as part of a multi-pronged coordinated philosophical strike, four blog posts have now appeared, one on each of the four papers in the first issue. Below are the links: Julia Jorati (OSU) on a paper in early modern by Paul Lodge (Oxford): Here Anna Mahtani (LSE) on a paper by Michael Caie (Pittsburgh): Here Ellen Clark (Oxford) on a paper in philosophy of biology by Christopher Hitchcock (Caltech) and Joel Velasco (Texas Tech): Here Thomas Nadelhoffer (Charleston) on a paper in experimental philosophy by John Turri (Waterloo): Here Come on, Aestheticians! Ergo is not only swimming in prestige but … Continue reading

April 10, 2014
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Philosophers’ Carnival #162

Aesthetics for Birds is pleased to host the 162nd Philosophers’ Carnival. Get your department pools in order because here’s the 2014 March Philosophico-Blogospheric Madness Sweet Sixteen! Eric Schwitzgebel discusses Our Duties to Moral Monsters in preparation for the coming Artificially-Intelligent Utility-Monster Apocalypse (The Splintered Mind). You’ll quickly run out of fingers Counting Infinities with Catarina Dutilh Novaes as she talks about the implications of numerosity as an alternative measure of infinite sets (New APPS). Richard Yetter Chappell in The Argument from Intelligibility for Moral Realism wonders if the metaphysical possibility derived from moral realism’s intelligibility in concert with the necessary truth of at least one fundamental moral claim makes a prima facie positive case for moral realism (Philosophy et cetera). Wolfgang Schwarz IDs Consequentialism and Voting where he challenges the civic virtue of Rule Utilitarians as compared to that over their largely thought in absentia Act Utilitarian kin (Wo’s Blog). If you can be bothered, then you should check out Joshua Knobe’s summary … Continue reading

March 22, 2014
by Aesthetics for Birds
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Aesthetics’ Philosophical Importance

What follows is a guest post by Anna Christina Ribeiro. Stop and think for a moment about the things you have done and said, and the thoughts you have had today. Have you noticed the look of a newscaster on television, or the voice of one on the radio? When you got dressed this morning, did you consider the look of your clothes, how well they matched, or how well they reflected your style or your mood? Have you looked out the window and thought it was a nice day, or a dreary day? Have you listened to music? Watched a movie or TV show? How many times in the process of doing these things did you think ‘That is beautiful’ or ‘That is a great story but the protagonist could have done a better job’ or discussed your reactions to a song, a show, a film, a novel, an … Continue reading