The 2007 Conference of the Rocky Mountain Division of the American Society for Aesthetics was held 13 – 15 July at the historic Hotel St. Francis, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Activities on the 13th began with conference registration and Opening Remarks by President Stewart. The Division welcomes critical papers in all fields and disciplines, pertaining to the history, application and appreciation of aesthetic understanding. We are always particularly interested in research into interdisciplinary and intercultural approaches emphasizing the natural character of the American Southwest. Sustaining the interdisciplinary character of the Division’s work, papers and discussions explored topics deriving from the fields of contemporary and historical aesthetics, philosophy, art history, cinema, English literature, aesthetics and postmodernism, American literature, sociology, fiction, studies of the American Southwest (especially landscapes and Navajo weaving), Buddhism, religion, classical music performance and Peirce studies, and others.

The 2007 conference program was composed as follows: Philosophical Investigations I (S.K. Wertz, David Conter and Sheryl Ross), Contemporary Issues in Aesthetics (George Moore, Martin Donougho and Nicholas Diehl), Literary Investigations I: The Academic Novel and Its Discontents (James W. Mock, Linda L. Dove and Eva M. Dadlez), Philosophical Investigations II (Joseph Vincenzo, Eric Mullis and James W. Mock), Literary Investigations II ( John Samson, Michael Manson and Reuben Ellis), Literary Investigations III (Lawrence F. Rhu, Lewis H. Whitaker and Norman A. Fischer), and Navajo Weaving, Aesthetical Therapeutics, Nagarjuna and Painting, Peirce and Music (Sandra Corse, David Levine, Andrew Svedlow and Arthur Stewart).

The Manuel Davenport Keynote Address was given by Carol Gould, Philosophy, Florida Atlantic University, titled “Does Music Evade a Serious Conflict Between Aesthetics and Ethical Expression?” The plenary session on the Artist at Work was given by James Woodson, Art, Texas Christian University, titled “It’s About Time: An Artist at Work.” Professor Woodson generously exhibited a number of his landscapes during his presentation.

Arthur Stewart