Aesthetics for Birds

Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art for Everyone

Category Archives: The Profession

April 19, 2017
by Rebecca Millsop
0 comments

Aesthetics Normativity Conference

The American Society for Aesthetics has helped fund a conference on Aesthetic Normativity that will take place May 19-20, 2017, in Salt Lake City. The conference is organized by John Dyck (PhD student at CUNY Graduate Center) and C. Thi Nguyen (Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Utah Valley University). Additional funding is being provided by Utah Valley University and the University of Utah. The conference will be held at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art in Salt Lake City. Dominic McIver Lopes (Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia) will be the keynote speaker. Confirmed speakers also include Nicholas Riggle (University of San Diego), Paul C. Taylor (Penn State University), and Katherine Thomson-Jones (Oberlin College). The conference will be free and open to the public, although pre-registration will be required. Pre-register at the conference website: <objectionable.net/artrules>. Aesthetic and artistic normativity pertain to what’s good or bad in beauty and … Continue reading →

March 29, 2017
by Rebecca Millsop
0 comments

ASA Funds Conference on the Philosophy of Portraits

The American Society for Aesthetics Board of Trustees has approved a grant of $3,990 for a conference on “The Philosophy of Portraits” at the University of Maryland, April 7-8, 2018. The conference has been organized by Hans Maes, Senior Lecturer in History and Philosophy of Art and Director of the Aesthetics Research Centre at the University of Kent, and Jerrold Levinson, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maryland. Confirmed keynote speakers include A.W. Eaton, Cynthia Freeland, and Jenefer Robinson. A call for additional papers for the conference will be announced shortly. ASA is funding two travel grants for ASA student members of $500 each for papers selected for the program. The conference registration fee of $35 will be waived for all ASA members attending the conference.

March 22, 2017
by Rebecca Millsop
0 comments

Questioning Aesthetics Symposium: Black Aesthetics

The American Society for Aesthetics is pleased to provide $7500 in partial support of the Questioning Aesthetics Symposium: Black Aesthetics, to be held at Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, March 31-April 1, 2017. Funding is also being provided by Hampshire College, the Transdisciplinary Aesthetics Foundation, Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, The University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and the Five-College Lecture Fund. The conference is co-organized by Monique Roelofs, Professor of Philosophy at Hampshire College, and Michael Kelly, Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and the Founder and President of the Transdisciplinary Aesthetics Foundation. The symposium will be free and open to the public. NEW (2/27/2017): Symposium Program Web sites for the Symposium: http://blackaesthetics.hampshire.edu https://transaestheticsfoundation.org/ Poster: http://aesthetics-online.org/resource/resmgr/conferences/QAS-BlackAesthetics-Poster.pdf Four grants of $500 each, made possible by an ASA Major Projects Initiative Grant, have been awarded to ASA student  members to attend the Symposium: James Cobb, English and … Continue reading →

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 →

January 11, 2017
by Rebecca Millsop
0 comments

New MA in Philosophy & the Arts at the University of Warwick, Uk

Applications are now open for an innovative new MA at the University at Warwick allowing students to combine Philosophy with one or more Arts disciplines. Warwick Philosophy operates a rolling admissions process, considering applications as they come in. Early application is encouraged to secure a place. The contributing departments to the new degree are i) Philosophy ii) English & Comparative Literature iii) Film & TV, and iv) Art History. Candidates take modules from Philosophy plus one or more arts disciplines, and have the option of gaining the degree by fulfilling the coursework requirements of 6 modules or of 4 modules plus dissertation. The degree has been designed to introduce students from both Philosophy and a variety of Arts and Humanities backgrounds to detailed philosophical study of the arts, in combination with the kind of first order critical, theoretical and historical attention to works of art, film and literature offered by … Continue reading →

November 9, 2016
by Rebecca Millsop
1 Comment

New Diversity Curricula in Aesthetics

The American Society for Aesthetics is pleased to announce three new aesthetics diversity curricula prepared by ASA members. Asian Aesthetics by Meilin Chinn The Aesthetics of Portraiture by Hans Maes Aesthetic Othering—The Case of Photographic Representation by Mariana Ortega In addition, two curricula prepared in 2015 are available: What is Art? A Reading List by Simon Fokt Theories of the Aesthetic by Monique Roelofs Each received a grant of $5,000 to prepare a diversity curriculum. This is a project of the ASA Diversity Committee, chaired by A.W. Eaton. The ASA has a three-year commitment to this project. Three more awards will be made in 2017. Guidelines will be available in the spring of 2017. For future reference, all are available on this web site: http://aesthetics-online.org/?CurriculumGrants From the ASA web site, go to the red tabs in the upper right: ASA ==> Diversity

October 28, 2016
by Aesthetics for Birds
6 Comments

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 →

October 26, 2016
by Rebecca Millsop
0 comments

ASA Funds Symposium on Black Aesthetics

The American Society for Aesthetics is pleased to provide $7500 in partial support of the Questioning Aesthetics Symposium: Black Aesthetics, to be held at Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, March 31-April 1, 2017. Funding is also being provided by Hampshire College, the Five Colleges, and the Transdisciplinary Aesthetics Foundation. The conference is co-organized by Monique Roelofs, Professor of Philosophy at Hampshire College, and Michael Kelly, Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and the Founder and President of the Transdisciplinary Aesthetics Foundation. The symposium will be free and open to the public. As more information becomes available, including the schedule of events, it will be posted on ASA’s website: http://aesthetics-online.org/news/314368/ASA-Funds-Symposium-on-Black-Aesthetics.htm.

October 19, 2016
by Rebecca Millsop
0 comments

ASA Present: Notes on the Aesthetics of Grunge

The American Society for Aesthetics is hosting their 74th Annual Meeting. Along with a bunch of awesome talks and presentations, you can also attend a talk on the aesthetics of grunge! The event is taking place in Seattle, WA… so break out your plaid and your old cassette tape of Nevermind and join the fun! For more information on the 74th Annual Meeting, check out the ASA site: http://aesthetics-online.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=671718