Irene H. Chayes New Voices Awards Announced

Myriam Albor (Independent Scholar) and Angela Sun (Washington and Lee University) have been named recipients of the 2024 ASA Irene H. Chayes New Voices Awards.

Albor received her PhD from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and studied at the University of Auckland under the mentorship of ASA Past-President Stephen Davies. Her research in the philosophy of music underscores the necessity of integrating diverse viewpoints to enrich the understanding of aesthetic experiences. Her winning paper, "Toward a simulation theory of musical expressiveness," will be presented at 11:30 on Thursday, October 24 in the Adams room. The abstract: 

There are three main approaches to musical expressiveness: the expression, arousal, and resemblance theories. The former two encounter the challenge of explaining music’s expressiveness through an emotion external to the music. The latter explains music’s expressiveness through characteristics inherent to the work but restricts it to a limited range of emotions that fail to capture music’s expressive subtlety. Here, I present my version of a simulation theory, drawing on the concepts of ‘musical simulation’ and ‘musical affordances’ as articulated by Charles Nussbaum, and Gibson’s argument that the gap between perceptual and motor functions is artificial. I contend that this approach can better address the challenges faced by existing musical expression theories, namely our active role in musical expressiveness, its relationship with music’s expressive qualities, and music’s nuanced expressiveness.

Sun received her PhD from the University of Michigan. Sun has been active in chapters of Minorities and Philosophy (MAP). Her earlier work considered the effects of artworld elitism and classism. Her winning paper, "Aesthetic Costs of Being Medicated," will be presented at 3:00 on Friday, October 25 in the Water Tower Parlor. The abstract:

Emotional blunting—restrictions in the range and intensity of the emotions one is able to feel—is a common side effect of antidepressants. In this paper, I argue that emotional blunting imposes an aesthetic cost on those who experience it as a side effect of antidepressants. I survey the scientific literature suggesting that depression is caused in large part by deficient emotion regulation, which is improved with antidepressants. However, the very same mechanisms hypothesized to make antidepressants effective at treating depression also cause emotional blunting. After explaining affect’s crucial role in aesthetic appreciation, I argue that emotional sensitivity, intensity, and rumination enhance one’s appreciative capacities; this is why emotional blunting is aesthetically costly. The view I offer in this paper has broader implications for philosophical aesthetics as it sheds light on the important but undertheorized role of affect in aesthetic appreciation.

Previous winners of the Prize:

• 2023: Alice Harberd, University College London
• 2023: Zoe Walker, University of Oxford
• 2022: Claire Anscomb, University of Liverpool
• 2022: Corbin Covington, Northwestern University
• 2021: Irene Martínez Marín, Uppsala University
• 2021: Nicholas Whittaker, CUNY Graduate Center
• 2020: Christopher Jenkins, Oberlin College
• 2020: Hannah Kim, Stanford University
• 2019: Shannon Brick, CUNY Graduate Center
• 2019: Zoë Cunliffe, CUNY Graduate Center
• 2018: Emmanuel Ordóñez Angulo, University College, London
• 2018: Daniel Wilson, University of Auckland

The awards were established in 2017 by the Board of Trustees of the ASA, at the request of the ASA Diversity Committee, to nourish and sustain an ethos of inclusivity in all aspects of the Society’s activities, and in the discipline of aesthetics more broadly.

Award recipients each will receive $1,000 prizes and travel to the Annual Meeting. Papers were reviewed anonymously with all other papers for the meeting by the ASA program committee, without any information on their request for the New Voices Award or other support. Eligibility for the Irene H. Chayes New Voices Award was reviewed by the co-chairs of the ASA diversity committee. The final selection was made jointly by the Co-Chairs of the Program Committee and the Diversity Committee.

Applicants for the 2025 awards should apply by March 1, 2025. Guidelines: https://aesthetics-online.org/page/chayesprize

These awards have been made possible by the generosity of a large bequest from the estate of Irene H. Chayes to the American Society for Aesthetics. Irene Hendry Chayes (1916-2014) received her B.A. and M.A. from New York University and her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. She taught literature at the University of Maryland, Hollins College, and SUNY Binghamton.