Virtual Aesthetics Programs in June 2023

The American Society for Aesthetics is pleased to announce three virtual aesthetics programs in June. All are free and open to all.

DISCORD PROGRAM

June 13, 2023 - 12 noon PDT

"Fancy That! The Aesthetics of Extremes in Animal Breeds"

Abstract: Since the mid twentieth century, show standards for Persian cats moved to an increasingly less prominent muzzle. While the breeders and exhibitors presumably like, even love, cats, the current extreme facial construction on show Persians can lead to physical difficulties in the cat. So why did this change happen? I’ll entertain sone proposed explanations that are incomplete or wanting and present one I think is stronger, employing Denis Dutton’s notion of art as performance.

New to Discord? Download the Discord app to the mobile or computer, follow the prompts in the app to join it,  and join the ASA server — Discord will tell you how to do this. Next, go to the list of ASA channels (they will be in 2 lists, one for Text and one for Voice (which allows video, too).  Find the “June-13-extremes” voice channel. 

 

CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN PHILOSOPHY, LITERATURE AND THE ARTS

June 21, 2023 - 3 pm BST

"Panel: On Bad Art"

The University of Warwick's Centre for Research in Philosophy, Literature and the Arts and the University of Hertfordshire are pleased to host an online panel event on the topic of bad art and its place in both philosophical aesthetics and art-critical practices. 

Chair: Eileen John (University of Warwick)

Contact: Celia Coll (c.coll@herts.ac.uk) for the zoom link to the event

Talks:

• Melissa Theriault (Universite du Quebec a TroisRiviers): 'There is no such thing as bad literature'
• Matthew Strohl (University of Montana): 'Humility and "Bad" Art'
• Celia Coll (University of Hertfordshire): 'Interpreting Works of Literature: The Good and the Bad'

Abstracts: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/philosophy/research/researchcentres/phillit/badart/

VIRTUAL SUMMER AESTHETICS FESTIVAL

June 22, 2023 - 9:00-10:30 am PDT

“Camus’s The Plague: Philosophical Perspectives”

Organizer/Contact: Peg Brand Weiser (Philosophy Department, University of Oregon: pweiser@uoregon.edu)

Abstract: Set in a “treeless, glamourless, soulless” town of Oran, Algeria,that chronicles self-imposed quarantine from a deadly bubonic plague caused by rats, Albert Camus’s novel entitled, La Peste, was published in 1947. It is a timely and provocative philosophical read in our own time as we experienced three years of deadly Covid-19 in a pandemic that raged world-wide killing over 6 million people: over 1.1 million in the United States alone. Peg Brand Weiser leads a multidisciplinary discussion with 5 authors of essays in the 2023 Oxford University Press publication entitled, Camus’s The Plague: Philosophical Perspectives, with additional comments from the series editor.

Speakers:

• Cynthia Freeland: Professor Emerita of Philosophy at the University of Houston; author of “Horror and Natural Evil in The Plague”
• Kathleen Higgins: Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin; author of “Grief and Human Connection in The Plague”
• Jane Schultz: Professor of English, History, and Medical Humanities at Indiana University in Indianapolis; author of “Present in Effacement: The Place of Women in Camus’s The Plague and Ours”
• Peg Brand Weiser: Courtesy Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oregon and Emerita Associate Professor of Philosophy and Gender Studies at Indiana University; author of “Introduction: The Relevance of Camus’s The Plague” and “Modern Death, Decent Death, and Heroic Solidarity”
• Steven Kellman: Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio; author of “The Plague and the Present Moment”
• Edward Weiser: Courtesy Professor of Practice at the University of Oregon and board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and gynecologic oncologist; author of “Examining the Narrative Devolution of the Physician in Camus’s The Plague”
• Richard Eldridge: series editor of Oxford Studies in Philosophy and Literature, and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Swarthmore College

Access: All are invited. Please register using the Zoom link below.

Registration required in advance for this meeting:

https://arizona.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwkd-igrjotGtMXub8szhZWIGejQD1hx6pZ