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The co-chairs for the Eastern Division 2026 meeting are Antony Aumann (Northern Michigan University) and Henry Pratt (Marist University). The Katharine Everett Gilbert Memorial Lecture will be given by Elisabeth Camp (Rutgers University). 
"Meaning by Being: Iconic Aptness and The Heresy of Paraphrase"
It is widely agreed that paraphrases of artworks are inevitably problematic because they ignore form and treat artworks as conveying a ‘message’. I argue that the deep problem is not that paraphrases ascribe distorted messages: artworks do often stake claims about how things are and explore ways they could be; and paraphrases can in principle offer accurate, albeit abstracted and idealized, specifications of these ways. Rather, the problem is that paraphrases say rather than show how the artist takes things to be. Artworks often exploit iconic implementation to offer experiential evidence, reveal complex structures, entrain dynamic patterns of attention, and scaffold holistic understanding – all epistemic values absent from a paraphrase. We can assess epistemically ambitious artworks for aptness at two levels: first, how well does the form fit the perspective the artwork evinces? Second, how well does that perspective fit the world? Neither of these questions can be settled by assessing paraphrases for truth. The program will also include the Beardsley Lecture, given by C. Thi Nguyen (University of Utah), sponsored by the Department of Philosophy at Temple University. 
“The (Very Social, Extremely Pluralist) Engagement Theory of Aesthetic Value” Here are some data-points about aesthetic life. First, we often avoid simply accepting aesthetic judgments based on the testimony of experts. Second, we often avoid using scientific methods — evidence-gathering, categorization, generalization, and inference to come to conclusions. Instead, we tend to arrive at our judgments through personal encounters with specific objects. Some have tried to explain these data-points as the results of the metaphysics of aesthetic properties, or aesthetic perception. I claim, instead, that they are best understood as social norms: norms that tell us to avoid testimony, and avoid scientific inference. And the best explanation of our adoption of these norms is that they function to plunge us into a particular kind of engagement: an autonomous, sensuous, and particularist kind of perception and cognition. Aesthetic life is a social practice, constructed to restore to us certain valuable parts of life that we have lost, in the drive towards the efficiencies of science. And aesthetic value turns out to be a plural cluster — of the many values that arise from that particular sort of autonomous and sensuous perception. Aesthetic life is something like a game, where we adopt unnecessary constraints to construct some specific kind of lushly valuable activity. Furthermore, borrowing a page from Michael Strevens’ solution to the demarcation problem in science, I suggest that these norms can solve the demarcation problem for the aesthetic domain. The “aesthetic realm” turns out to be a construct, the result of a social practice built around following certain social norms. And, in particular, those norms and constraints are significantly tuned to encourage a particular kind of community - one centered around unending, unresolvable, delicious conversation.
CALL FOR PAPERS: The extended deadline of December 1, 2025 has now passed. The Eastern Division 2026 Program will be posted here when it is available. REGISTRATION RATES: Registration for the meeting is now open (click the bold red "Register" button at the top right of this page). To be charged the correct rate, please be sure to log in as a member before you register! Regular (ASA Members)** - Early Bird (register by March 20): $150
- After March 20: $200
Regular (non-members) - Early Bird (register by March 20): $175
- After March 20: $225
Student and Unemployed (ASA Members)** (without a full-time academic appointment) - Early Bird (register by March 20): $55
- After March 20: $80
Student and Unemployed (non-members) (without a full-time academic appointment) - Early Bird (register by March 20): $80
- After March 20: $110
**Please note that anyone participating on the program in any capacity (as a presenter, commentator, or chair) must be a member of the ASA.** LODGING: We hope you will consider joining us at the Doubletree by Hilton to help us meet our contractual commitments. Registrants will receive the hotel booking code in an email confirming registration for the meeting. Please note that the ASA special rate of $225/night (excluding taxes and fees) for a standard queen room is guaranteed only for 4/9, 4/10, and 4/11. If your stay is longer, you will be able to use the booking code, but will be given the conference rate subject to hotel availability. 0 Additional meeting information will be posted here as it becomes available.
Photo Gallery of the 2025 meeting Photo Gallery of the 2024 meeting All of the ASA divisional meetings are organized by teams of volunteers. If you have attended several meetings, please offer your talents to help at a future event.
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES The ASA Policies on Discrimination, Harassment, and Respectful Behavior will be in effect for this meeting. The ASA Eastern Ombudsperson will be present throughout the meeting. Cancellation and Refund Policy for EASA 2026 Guidelines for Accommodations at ASA Meetings
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President of ASA Rocky Mountain Division 2021-22
ASA Postdoctoral Fellow 2019-2021
