Aesthetics for Birds

Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art for Everyone

November 4, 2021
by Aesthetics for Birds
0 comments

Hi-Phi Nation’s Barry Lam on the Art of Podcasting

The philosopher and podcaster behind Hi-Phi Nation talks about his creative process, trends, and whether podcasts are really art. Continue reading

September 25, 2017
by Aesthetics for Birds
0 comments

Art and Cultural Heritage (ASA Diversity Syllabus #1)

The American Society for Aesthetics has sponsored the development of new, annotated reading lists, with an eye to increasing diversity. These are intended for use in teaching, but would make a great reading list for curious minds! These are publicly available at the ASA website, but Aesthetics for Birds has asked the designers of these reading lists to provide us with brief overviews of what we can find in the documents. That way you, our readers, have a better idea of what you are looking at and what you might want to look for. First up is “Art and Cultural Heritage” [link to pdf] by Erich Hatala Matthes.

June 7, 2017
by Rebecca Millsop
0 comments

Congrats to the Winners of the 2017 APA Curriculum Diversification Grants

The American Society for Aesthetics is pleased to announce the winners of the 2017 Curriculum Diversification Grant competition: Chris Jenkins, Associate Dean for Academic Support, Oberlin Conservatory Project:  The Aesthetics of African-American Classical Music Erich Hatala Matthes, Assistant Professor, Wellesley College Project: Art and Cultural Heritage Rossen Ventzislavov, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Woodbury University Project: The Aesthetics of Performance Art CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THE WINNERS!!! Each will receive a grant of $5,000 to prepare the proposed diversity curriculum. These will be posted on the ASA web site in September 2017. This is a project of the ASA Diversity Committee, chaired by Thi Nguyen. To see the final curricula of the 2015 and 2016 winners, click here.

February 1, 2017
by Rebecca Millsop
0 comments

ASA to Award Diversity Curriculum Grants

The American Society of Aesthetics is pleased to announce the 2017 competition for Curriculum Diversification Grants.  Up to three grants for up to $5,000 each will be awarded in 2017.  The application deadline is May 1, 2017. Grantees will develop detailed annotated reading lists, complete with background reading, that are organized into modules covering core areas in aesthetics/philosophy of art. The idea here is not to develop modules oriented primarily around gender, race, disability, etc., but, rather, to promote diversity at the heart of mainstream aesthetics and philosophy of art.  Modules should be usable in, for instance: introduction to aesthetics/philosophy of art courses; courses on particular historical figures or movements (e.g., Plato’s or Aristotle’s aesthetics, Medieval aesthetics, Scottish Enlightenment aesthetics, Continental aesthetics); courses devoted topics or problems within core areas in aesthetics/philosophy of art (e.g., Fiction, Film, Narrative, Music, Depiction, Art and Ethics, Ontology of Art, Definitions of Art, Theories … Continue reading

January 25, 2017
by Rebecca Millsop
0 comments

ASA to Sponsor Aesthetics Speakers at 2017 Diversity Institutes

The Board of Trustees of the American Society for Aesthetics has approved sponsoring aesthetics speakers at three diversity institutes in the summer of 2017: (1) the Summer Program for Women in Philosophy at UC San Diego, June 28-July 8; (2) the 20th Annual Rutgers Summer Institute for Diversity in Philosophy, July 10-17; (3) the Summer Immersion Program at Brown University, July 28. For each of the three institutes, the ASA-sponsored speaker will attend the Institute for two days, give a 2-1/2 hour presentation (including a question and answer period), and take meals with the students. Each speaker will receive an honorarium, plus travel, lodging, and meals at the institute site. For more information on each institute, please consult their web sites: Brown: http://www.sippatbrown.com/ Rutgers: http://philosophy.rutgers.edu/events-335/summer-institute UCSD: http://spwp.ucsd.edu/2017-program/ Applications are now be sought for these appointments. Applicants to be the ASA speaker must be current members of the ASA. Applicants should … Continue reading

November 16, 2016
by Aesthetics for Birds
1 Comment

More Bibliographies

Last week, we presented three new diversity curricula supported by the ASA. Relatedly, here are a few bibliographies people might find useful in trying to assemble diverse course readings, or for those interested in exploring other areas: Race and Aesthetics, from the BSA-sponsored Race and Aesthetics Conference last year Feminism and Aesthetics (1990-2003), by Joshua James Shaw (Penn State, Behrend) Theological Aesthetics, by Laura Smit (Calvin College) Marxism & ‘the Left’ in Philosophy of Art & Aesthetics, by Patrick O’Donnell (Independent Scholar) Image credit: Nicolaes Maes, “An Old Woman Dozing over a Book” (1655), via NGA