DOCSLIB.ORG

Oberlin Philosophy Summer 2015, Volume 5

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Oberlin Philosophy Summer 2015, Volume 5 1 Oberlin Philosophy Summer 2015, Volume 5 NEWS FROM ALUMNI A Note from the Editor Many thanks to those of you who liked by Kate Thomson-Jones our Facebook page. Keep your comments coming! (Simply search “Oberlin s philosophers, we know how difficult it is to understand the nature of and our Philosophy” on Facebook). If you’re not relation to time. I cannot help but hesitate, therefore, in beginning this note a Facebook fan but would like to share Awith a remark about the seemingly rapid passage of time since the last news- news, please email the newsletter editor: letter. This is particularly in light of a recent book by one of our alumni. In Objective [email protected]. Becoming (2014), Brad Skow ’98 argues that time does not pass in the way we com- monly think. This is because time is part of the general structure of the universe, not Joseph Andriano something moving around inside it. Nevertheless, even if time does not flow like a ’02 was appointed river, events still occur; “things change,” as Brad readily admits. This year’s newslet- assistant professor of ter is a record of just a few of those changes and events affecting our faculty, students, law and director of the and alumni. Program on Alternate As usual, I begin our newsletter with a brief summary of how the department Dispute Resolution at has fared over the past academic year. In the fall, we were delighted to welcome Clarkson University’s Dorit Ganson back from medical leave. She was greatly missed in all of her many School of Business in roles—as teacher, mentor, colleague, and departmental chair. We were also delighted Joe Andriano ’02 Potsdam, N.Y. Along to welcome two new members of the department. Jonathan (Jon) Shaheen joined us with teaching several classes on law, he upon completing his PhD at the University of Michigan. Jon accepted an OKUM is applying his philosophy degree by postdoctoral fellowship—the Oberlin-Kalamazoo University of Michigan Mellon teaching a class on business ethics, with postdoctoral fellowship established for the purposes of giving Michigan doctoral a particular focus on the application of graduates experience teaching at a liberal arts college. Owen King joined us from Kant, Mill, and Aristotle to this field. Joe Ohio State University while still working on his doctoral thesis in order to help the and his partner, Sarah, bought a house department meet the demand for introductory philosophy courses. The reason we in Crary Mills, N.Y., where they live needed Owen to help us meet this demand was that the most senior member of our with their cats, Louie and Ella, and their department, Peter McInerney, began a phased retirement this year by switching to llamas, Dolly and Daisy. part-time teaching. It is with great sadness that we contemplate Peter’s retirement, but we are grateful that, with the phased plan, we have a little more time to draw on his Marcia Baron ’76 returned from the wise counsel in departmental matters. University of St. Andrews, where she With the addition of Owen and Jon’s energy and interests, we were able to held a professorship for two years before offer a particularly rich selection of courses this past year. In the fall, we offered deciding, with a somewhat heavy heart, to a record six sections of introductory philosophy courses, with Owen teach- return for family reasons to her position at ing two sections of Problems in Philosophy, Kate teaching two sections of The Indiana University. She and her husband, Nature of Value, Martin teaching a section of Knowledge and Reality, and Jon Fred Schmitt, are professors of philosophy teaching another section of the same course. At the 200 level, we offered courses at IU. Their son is a graduate student in Existentialism, Deductive Logic, Modern Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy, at MIT, also in philosophy. She enjoys and the Philosophy of Mind. Tim Hall also led an advanced seminar in the stopping in Oberlin when time permits, Philosophy of Law. In the spring, we offered five more sections of introductory hearing from Oberlin friends, and also philosophy courses, taught by Owen, Tim, and Todd. The higher-level courses meeting younger Oberlinians such as offered were Dorit’s course in Reason and Argument, Peter’s course in 20th- Taylor Rogers, a graduate student in Century Continental Philosophy, as well as courses in the Philosophy of Science, philosophy, and Matt Carlson, a professor Biomedical Ethics, and the Philosophy of Music. There were two seminars, one at Wabash College (with a PhD from led by Todd in the Philosophy of Perception, and the other led by Jon on the continued on page 5 continued on page 2 2 EDITOR’S NOTE, cont. Continental Rationalists in Early Modern the University of Leeds, who spoke about colleague: Tina Botts will be joining us as Philosophy. perceptual experience and representation; a postdoctoral fellow with the Consortium After last year’s highly successful 42nd and Patricia Blanchette from the University for Faculty Diversity. Tina has broad Oberlin Colloquium in Philosophy, this was of Notre Dame, who spoke about models in research and teaching interests, including a year for a speaker series, expertly run by geometry and logic. in the philosophy of law, the philosophy Martin. The series included six top-notch This year’s Nancy K. Memorial Lecture, of race, and feminist philosophy. Another philosophers. In the fall, we hosted Andrea organized by Tim, was given by Michael exciting year ahead! Woody from the University of Washington Huemer from the University of Colorado at Here you will find more news from and Jerrold Levinson from the University Boulder. Professor Huemer’s well-attended individual faculty members, alumni, and of Maryland. Their talks were on scientific talk was titled “Devil’s Advocates: On the graduating students, as well as information explanation and expressiveness in jazz, Ethics of Unjust Legal Advocacy.” about student achievements and specific respectively. We also cosponsored, along As the year comes to an end, we wish departmental events. with the departments of Africana Studies Jon the best of luck in his future endeav- Perhaps, however, you find yourself and Politics, a talk by Paul Taylor from ors, both philosophical and fatherly (see wondering, are past events real? Brad Skow Pennsylvania State University on the pos- his news to follow). We wish Owen the says yes, they are just inaccessible, located sibility of a post-racial society. In the spring, best of luck in the defense of his doctoral in another part of spacetime. Real or not, we hosted Anna-Sara Malmgren from thesis, and we look forward to welcom- we hope the events described here remind Stanford University, who spoke about in- ing him back to teach in the fall. We also you of your place in the Oberlin philo- ferential justification; Heather Logue from look forward to welcoming another new sophical community. STUDENT ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS Philosophy Majors Committee Ari Benjamin, Anna Field, Vernon Fleming, Sky Kalfus, Robert Merges, Ian Poper Oberlin Feminist Philosophers An update from Sky Kalfus: “This year, Oberlin’s CONGRATS 2015 GRADS! Feminist Philosophers met weekly to have spirited Philosophy Majors: discussions on a number of topics, including but Anna Field not limited to the viability of feminist progress in a market economy, the metaphysics of structural Alexander Hilden Philosophy majors (from left) injustice, and (briefly) whether or not it would Sky Kalfus Sky Kalfus, Ariel Miller, and be advantageous to kill all men. We look forward Austin Little Ari Benjamin to meeting again next year, and we encourage all Connor McCleskey philosophically-minded women and non-binary Alexander Mitts folk to join us!” Samuel Wappler Essay Prizes Philosophy Minors: The Christopher P. Dahl Essay Prize is given Emma Charno for the best undergraduate essay in any area of philosophy, and the Rhoden Essay Prize is given Esther Choi for the best undergraduate essay in the areas of Travis Ivy ethics, medical ethics, or the philosophy of law. Damien Kirk David Myers is the winner of this year’s Dahl Samuel Potel David Myers (right) in Prize, and Waylon Cunningham is the winner of Oliver Ramirez philosophical conversation this year’s Rhoden Prize. Congratulations David with Jon Shaheen Jay Rosen and Waylon on your outstanding work! Lucien Swetschinski 3 FACULTY NEWS Dorit Ganson: After taking a semester of to recruit a few talented new philosophy these matters in ethics, practical reasoning, leave for breast cancer treatment, I was majors. Meanwhile, I have been working and philosophy of mind. I am particularly grateful to return to teaching this past fall to finish my doctoral dissertation at Ohio interested in the extent to which people and to finishing my last year as chair of the State University. My dissertation is about can exercise conscious control over what philosophy department. I chaired a session well-being and the different ways things can happens in their own minds. I have written at the Central APA in the spring. A high- be good for a person. I focus especially on several articles concerning various ways in light of the trip was running into my former the underexamined relationship between which reflective activity can affect auto- student Matt Carlson and hearing that he well-being (how well a person is faring at matic, non-reflective mental happenings. had landed a tenure-track job in philosophy a particular time) and the goodness of the I am currently working on issues about at Wabash College. person’s life as a whole. I presented some of the rationality of having specific plans for this work at the 2015 meeting of the Ohio the longer-term future.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Jerrold Levinson's Musical Concerns: Essays In
    ___________________________________________________________________________ Book Review LEVINSON, JERROLD. Musical Concerns: Essays in Philosophy of Music. Oxford University Press 2015, 176 pp., $45 hardcover. Reviewed by Caterina Moruzzi Musical Concerns collects twelve essays written by Jerrold Levinson between 2006 and 2014. The value of this collection consists in providing insights both into traditional discussions of the philosophy of music, such as the music-emotion relation, and into alternative and emerging ones, such as the idiosyncrasies of jazz and the values possessed by music. In the first essay, “Philosophy and Music,” Levinson highlights the beneficial results these two disciplines can obtain from mutual engagement. In addition to the more traditional interrelation between composers who look to philosophical theories to get inspiration for their works and philosophers influenced by musical works, he identifies three features common to philosophy and music: the search for completeness (9–10), their nature as forms of thought (10–13), and their deep usefulness despite superficial impracticality (13). “Indication, Abstraction, and Individuation” contrasts a theory developed by Levinson with formalist theories that identify the nature of musical works with their pure form and structure. 1 Levinson’s musical contextualism ascribes ontological importance also to contextual factors such as composer, time of composition, and instrumentation. The creation of the work is carried out by an act of artistic indication, the result of a deliberate choice that sets the standards for the performance of the work itself (50), which assigns to the author’s creation the status of artwork. The next essential step after the creation of a work is its reception by an audience: “The Aesthetic Appreciation of Music” deals with different kinds of appreciation the audience can experience by listening to music.
    [Show full text]
  • 1993 PROGRAM COMMITTEE NOTE: All Friday Afternoon Sessions Are at the LEVINSON and the RESISTING READER: William J
    9:30 - 10:25 am VISTA MAR MONTE II IS THERE A DEFINITlDN OF ART? Vanda Boziccvic) Philosophy, University of Croatia 2:00 - 3:50 pm COMMENT: Stephanie Ross, Philosophy, FOUR QUESTIONS FOR MARGOLIS University of Missouri/Saint LOt~is Michael Krausz, Philosophy, Brytl Mawr C HAIR: Roger Shiner, Philosophy, University of Alberta MARGOLIS AND THE METAPHYSICS OF CULTURE Dale Jacquette, Philosophy, Pennsylvania State University Break: 10:30 - 10:45 am COMMENT: joseph Margolis, Philosophy, Tempi, University 10:45 - II :40 am CHAIR: Curtis Carter, Philosophy, Marquette University THE IMPACT OF JAZZ ON CHINESE AUDIENCES Shirley Kennedy, Black Studies, Break: 4:00 - 4:15 pm University of California/Santa Barbara COMMENT: David Samue ls, Anthropology, , 4:15 - 5:10 pm University of Texas/Austin PAINTINGS AND FRAMES CHAIR: jo Ellen jacobs, Philosophy, Millikin University Barbara Savedoft; Philosophy, CUNY/Baruch College COMMENT: Claudia Sole, Santa Barbara 11:45 am - 12:40 pm CHAIR: Susa n FC::lgin, Philosophy, IL FAUT ETRE ABSOLUMENT RADICALIEI University of Missouri/ Kansas City Peter Madsen, Comparative Literature, University of Copenhagen COMMENT: Gary Shapiro, Philosophy, VISTA MA1~ MONTli III University of Richmond CHAIR: Mechthild Nagel, Philosophy, 2:00 - 4:00 pm Uni.versity of Massachusetts/Amh errt AESTHETICS AND YOUNG PEOPLE Marcia Eaton, PIJi/flwph.y, Ut/i,',.,'sily oj'Mimll:sota Cynthia Rost:lt1koW I'k.I, I'lul(/ltlp/~y, Sa" losr Seate University VISTA MAR MONTE III Ellen Handler Spill, P''Ytl!j·,fU'Y, Cornell Vlli"frllly Alr, IIII,! (
    [Show full text]
  • A Powerful Defence of Musical Formalism Hanne Appelqvist: Wittgenstein and the Conditions of Musical Commu- Nication
    REVIEW A Powerful Defence of Musical Formalism Hanne Appelqvist: Wittgenstein and the Conditions of Musical Commu- nication. Acta Philosophica Fennica Vol. 85, Helsinki: The Philosophical Society of Finland, 2008. 152 pages. isbn 978-951-9265-68-4 A typical problem with approaches to aesthetic questions which draw heavily on the views of a single philosopher is that those who are en- gaged in the debate over the philosophical problem to which his or her views are applied may often have trouble seeing the relevance of the proposed account. This is not the case with Hanne Appelqvist’s work Wittgenstein and the Conditions of Musical Communication. She develops a highly persuasive variant of musical formalism based on a reading of remarks on the analogy between the understanding of music and the un- derstanding of language found in Ludwig Wittgenstein’s later writings. With this sort of Wittgensteinian formalism she challenges an influen- tial tradition in contemporary philosophy of music in which music’s con- tent is considered to consist of the expression of emotions and in which musical understanding is seen as the capacity to grasp the emotion a par- ticular musical phrase or piece supposedly expresses. Simultaneously, Appelqvist manages to provide a rehabilitation of the musical formalism developed by Eduard Hanslick who contemporary analytic philosophers of music have, in her opinion, undeservedly looked down on. The first two chapters of Appelqvist’s work explore the relationship between the early and later parts of Wittgenstein’s philosophical career. While it is well-known that Wittgenstein’s thinking changed radically in certain respects between the Tractatus and the Philosophical Investigations, in Appelqvist’s view, the concerns of the two works nevertheless overlap in that they both attempt “to give an account of the necessary conditions of meaning in language” (41).
    [Show full text]
  • Piece for the End of Time: in Defence of Musical Ontology
    Trinity University Digital Commons @ Trinity Philosophy Faculty Research Philosophy Department 1-2008 Piece for the End of Time: In Defence of Musical Ontology Andrew Kania Trinity University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/phil_faculty Part of the Philosophy Commons Repository Citation Kania, A. (2008). Piece for the end of time: In defence of musical ontology. British Journal of Aesthetics, 48(1), 65-79. doi:10.1093/aesthj/aym040 This Post-Print is brought to you for free and open access by the Philosophy Department at Digital Commons @ Trinity. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy Faculty Research by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Trinity. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Piece for the End of Time: In Defence of Musical Ontology Andrew Kania [This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in The British Journal of Aesthetics following peer review. The version of record (Andrew Kania, “Piece for the End of Time: In Defence of Musical Ontology” British Journal of Aesthetics 48 (2008): 65-79) is available online at: http://bjaesthetics.oxfordjournals.org/content/48/1/65.abstract?sid=9e5cc66e- c952-4d71-9a27-f80e13bf3c67. Please cite only the published version.] Abstract Aaron Ridley has recently attacked the study of musical ontology – an apparently fertile area in the philosophy of music. I argue here that Ridley’s arguments are unsound. There are genuinely puzzling ontological questions about music, many of which are closely related to questions of musical value. While it is true that musical ontology must be descriptive of pre-existing musical practices and that some debates, such as that over the creatability of musical works, have little consequence for questions of musical value, none of this implies that these debates themselves are without value.
    [Show full text]
  • Aesthetic Contextualism Jerrold Levinson University of Maryland
    Postgraduate Journal of Aesthetics, Vol. 4, No. 3, December 2007 AESTHETIC CONTEXTUALISM JERROLD LEVINSON UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND Let me begin with a quote: “The universal organum of philosophy—the ground stone of its entire architecture—is the philosophy of art.”1 This statement, made in 1800 by the German Idealist philosopher Friedrich Schelling, is rather striking, not only because of its grandiosity, but also because it contrasts with what the majority of contemporary philosophers would be prepared to say on the subject. There is nevertheless a grain of truth in the claim that there is a peculiar connection between art and philosophy and in the claim that aesthetics is a central area of philosophy. First of all, it is worth noting that, even if the philosophy of art has not played a role in the systems of all the indisputably great philosophers, or even of most of them, it has occupied an important place in the thought of quite a few, among them Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Hegel and Sartre. And a good number of philosophers of lesser rank—including Croce, Collingwood, Dewey, Bergson, Santayana, Gadamer and, evidently, Schelling, also had a philosophy of art; one finds them perhaps more interested in it than in, say, ethics. Why this natural, even if not inevitable, link between philosophy and art? Well, both art and philosophy are concerned with ultimate value, with what makes life worth living. In both art and philosophy, expression, clarification, and formulation are important, though whether the content of what is expressed, clarified and formulated in art and in philosophy is the same is another matter.
    [Show full text]
  • Hegel on Music
    Swarthmore College Works Philosophy Faculty Works Philosophy 2007 Hegel On Music Richard Thomas Eldridge Swarthmore College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-philosophy Part of the Philosophy Commons Let us know how access to these works benefits ouy Recommended Citation Richard Thomas Eldridge. (2007). "Hegel On Music". Hegel And The Arts. 119-145. https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-philosophy/106 This work is brought to you for free by Swarthmore College Libraries' Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Hegel on Music Richard Eldridge 1 At first glance, Hegel says some striking but apparently inconsistent things about music. He appears, first, to defend musical formalism: the view, urged by theorists from Eduard Hanslick to Peter Kivy, that pure instru­ mental music is an acoustic arrangement that signifies nothing. In music as an art, Hegel notes, “sound, just as sound, is treated as an end in it­ self; ... its own form, artistic note-formation, can become its essential end” (A 2:899).* He goes on to indicate in particular that successful art music need not be based on any verbal text. Music has the maximum possibility of freeing itself from any actual text as well as from the expression of any specific subject-matter, with a view to finding satisfaction solely in a self-enclosed series of the conjunc­ tions, changes, oppositions, and modulations falling within the purely musical sphere of sounds. (A 2:901-2) Yet, second, Hegel also remarks that music that is simply self- enclosed development “remains empty and meaningless” (A 2:902).
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Phil 1370 Philosophy of Art When and Where: Tuesday & Thursday, 2
    Phil 1370 Philosophy of Art When and where: Tuesday & Thursday, 2:30–3:45 pm, CL 349. Instructor: Anja Jauernig, CL 1028F, 624-5782, [email protected]. Office Hours: Thursday 1:15–2:15, and by appointment. Readings. All readings are available through E-reserve at http://pitt.libguides.com/er.php?ecid=9451. Password: aj37pa. Requirements and grading. You are required to write one medium length paper about half-way through the course (about 7 pages, 30%), and one longer paper at the end (about 14 pages, 60%). There will be several paper topics to choose from for the first paper; you will choose the topic for the second paper yourself (in consultation with me). You are also required to post one short comment or question about, or objection to, the readings for each meeting by 9 am on the day of the meeting on the Philosophy of Art message board on CourseWeb (10%). (How long should the comment be? A few sentences or a brief paragraph will be sufficient.) It is a necessary condition for passing the course that you get a passing grade on each paper, and that you post a comment for at least 80% of meetings. Extensions. If you are unable to hand in your paper on time for a legitimate reason, we can arrange for you to submit your work at a later time. If you do not have a good excuse there will be an automatic late penalty of 0.333 on the usual grading scale for every begun 3 hours of being late.
    [Show full text]
  • Musical Concerns : Essays in Philosophy of Music Pdf, Epub, Ebook
    MUSICAL CONCERNS : ESSAYS IN PHILOSOPHY OF MUSIC PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Jerrold Levinson | 182 pages | 14 Aug 2018 | Oxford University Press | 9780199669677 | English | Oxford, United Kingdom Musical Concerns : Essays in Philosophy of Music PDF Book Most agree that the fullest such authenticity requires the production of the right pitches in the right order. Yet we enthusiastically engage in such activities because that is the kind of creature we are. Of those unpublished essays, two address a subject that concerns Levinson in some of his most recent publications, namely, jazz. Understanding Music A central topic in the understanding of paradigmatically representational art forms, such as literature and film, is what constitutes an acceptable interpretation of a work. Syntax Advanced Search. Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content. Apart from debate over which of these proposals most closely matches our experience, there is the question of how well each of them fits with the various solutions discussed above to the problem of our negative responses to music, and with empirical work on the emotions, which leads me to the second point: There is growing interest in both the variety of emotions and affective states more broadly, and non- cognitive aspects of, or alternatives to, cognitive theories of the emotions e. One might have the same imaginative experience in response to both a live performance and a recording of The Rite of Spring , yet it seems an open question whether the two media are aesthetically equivalent. For example, I have noted that the essay on shame makes the important concession that "readily" heard expressive qualities may be supplemented, in a correct interpretation by a "suitably backgrounded listener," by recognition of qualities that the listener "does not readily or spontaneously" hear.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Meeting
    American Society for Aesthetics President joseph Margolis Philosophy, Temple University Vice-President Arthur Danto Philosoph y, Columbia University Secretary-Treasurer Roger A. Shiner Philosophy, University of Alberta The Trustees Philip Alperson Philosophy, University of Louisville American Ted Cohen Philosophy, University of Chicago Donald W. Crawford Philosophy, Society for University of Wisconsin (Madison) ex officio Susan Feagin Philosophy, University of Missouri (Kansas City) john Fisher Philosophy, Temple University Aesthetics Stephanie Ross Philosophy, University of Missouri (St. Louis) Alexander Sesonske Film Studies and Philosophy, University of California (Santa Barbara) Anita Silvers Philosophy, San Francisco State University Judith Tormey Philosophy, Temple University Kendall Walton Philosophy, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) 46th Programme Committee Hilde Hein Philosophy, College of the Holy Cross Gary Iseminger Philosophy, Carleton College ANNUAL Berel Lang Philosophy, S. U.N. Y. (Albany) julius Moravscik Philosophy, Stanford Chair Mary Mothersill Philosophy, Barnard College, MEETING Columbia University Roger A. Shiner Philosophy, University of Alberta ex officio Anita Silvers Philosophy, San Francisco State University 26-29 OCTOBER 1988 Local Arrangements Roger Seamon English, University of British Columbia Hotel Georgia Canadian Society for Aesthetics Vancouver, Be Societe canadienne d'esthetique Co-Presidents/Co-presidents Jean-Guy Meunier Philosoph ie, Universite de Quebec a Montreal Francis Peddle instihlfe of
    [Show full text]
  • New Waves in Musical Ontology
    Trinity University Digital Commons @ Trinity Philosophy Faculty Research Philosophy Department 2008 New Waves in Musical Ontology Andrew Kania Trinity University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/phil_faculty Part of the Philosophy Commons Repository Citation Kania, A. (2008). New waves in musical ontology. In K. Stock & K. Thomson-Jones (Eds.), New waves in aesthetics (pp. 20-40). Palgrave Macmillan. This Contribution to Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Philosophy Department at Digital Commons @ Trinity. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy Faculty Research by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Trinity. For more information, please contact [email protected]. New Waves in Musical Ontology Andrew Kania [Andrew Kania, “New Waves in Musical Ontology” in New Waves in Aesthetics, ed. Kathleen Stock and Katherine Thomson-Jones (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008) pp. 20-40; reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan. This extract is taken from the author's original manuscript and has not been edited. The definitive, published, version of record is available here: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9780230220461. Please cite only the published version.] Since analytic aesthetics began, around fifty years ago, music has perhaps been the art most discussed by philosophers. This interest is reflected even in the contents of this volume, with three chapters devoted to specifically musical issues, with other arts getting at most one chapter to themselves. The reasons for philosophers’ attraction to music as a subject are obscure, but one element is surely that music, as a non-verbal, multiple- instance, performance art, raises at least as many questions about expression, ontology, interpretation, and value as any other art – questions that often seem more puzzling than those raised by other arts.
    [Show full text]
  • “Beauty's Diversity: Retrospect and Prospect”
    Kultur- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Fakultät Philosophisches Seminar Public Lecture Jerrold Levinson “Beauty’s Diversity: Retrospect and Prospect” 21/09/ 2016 17:15-19:00 pm Universität Luzern, Frohburgstrasse 3, 6002 Luzern, Room 3.B52 In my essay "Beauty Is Not One" I defended a strong diversity thesis about visual beauty. In my lecture today I will first recall in outline the main points of that defense. I will then proceed to support the thesis further by nar- rowing my focus to three of the main varieties of visual beauty, to wit, natural beauty, artistic beauty, and hu- man beauty. Or otherwise put, the beauty of nature (and especially landscapes), the beauty of artworks (and especially paintings), and the beauty of human beings (and especially women). My aim in focusing on these three varieties of visual beauty will be to expand and deepen my phenomenological characterization of them so as to reinforce the thesis of their fundamental difference from one another. Jerrold Levinson (PhD, Michigan) is Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy. His main philosophical interest is aesthetics, with secondary interests in metaphysics, ethics, and philosophy of mind. Among the arts he is particularly concerned with philosophical problems arising in connection with music, film, and literature. Levinson has written extensively on the definition of art, expression in music, emotional response to art, the nature of literary interpretation, and the ontology of artworks. Topics of recent interest include intrinsic value, the nature of humor, sexual morality, jazz improvisation, the expressive specificity of jazz, the ethics of jokes, the analysis of artistic achievement, and the varieties of visual beauty.
    [Show full text]
  • Jerrold Levinson, Musical Concerns: Essays in Philosophy of Music, Oxford University Press, 2015, Pp
    Universa. Recensioni di filosofia - Volume 5, n. 1 (2015) Universa. Recensioni di filosofia – Anno 5, Vol. 1 (2016) Jerrold Levinson, Musical Concerns: Essays in Philosophy of Music, Oxford University Press, 2015, pp. 173, £ 25.00, ISBN 9780199669660 Jan Czarnecki, Università degli Studi di Padova This brief collection consists of a dozen essays, only three of which have not been previously published. Readers who would expect some larger-scale argumentative arch and novelty from Levinson may be disappointed. However, this open form permits the distinguished author to revisit questions of the aesthetics, ontology, axiology and ethics of music in an approachable and concise way. In this sense, the book may serve as an introduction to Levinson’s recent work on music, involving some core concepts of his philosophy. In the opening essay, Levinson reflects on the possible non- superficial affinities between Philosophy and Music, considering the following relations: (1) music as inspiration for philosophy, exemplified here by what he calls “philosophical literature” (Hesse’s Steppenwolf, Mann’s Doktor Faustus, Huxley’s Point Counterpoint) and, conversely, philosophy inspiring music (Strauss’s Also sprach Zaratustra, Satie’s Socrate etc.); (2) principles of music as sharing some mathematical core with philosophical demonstration, a thought of a broadly intended Pythagorean-Leibnizian descent that Levinson refuses to embrace; (3) music and philosophy as sharing some basic features, in that they both (a) aim at a kind of wholeness or completeness
    [Show full text]