ASA Funds Southern Aesthetics Workshop

The American Society for Aesthetics Board of Trustees has approved a grant of $3,640 in support of a Southern Aesthetics Workshop, to be held August 30-31, 2019, at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama.

The conference has been organized by Aaron Meskin, Professor of Philosophical Aesthetics at the University of Leeds and James Shelley, Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Auburn University. Substantial cost-sharing for the Workshop is being provided by the Auburn Philosophy Department.

The workshop will be comprised of three activities: (a) a series of seven or eight pre-read sessions which w ill focus on submitted work by junior scholar and commentary by senior figures in the field, (b) a keynote address by Professor Paul C.  Taylor, Vanderbilt University, and (c) planning meetings about the future of the Southern Division of the ASA.

The goals of the project include:

• Exploring the possibilities and potential of a new Southern Division of the ASA;
• Promoting research in aesthetics and philosophy of art by junior members of the ASA working in the southern region of the U.S. (broadly construed);
• Forging connections and initiating dialogue between aestheticians working in the South; and
• Allowing students a first opportunity to participate in a professional workshop.