Philosophy of Art and Aesthetics
Aesthetics is the branch or subfield of philosophy that is concerned to investigate standards and conventions pertaining to beauty and (other) matters of taste. Philosophers who are interested in aesthetics are typically drawn to some of the following: questions concerning perception, affect, and embodiment; questions concerning the truth or validity or intersubjective merit of works of art; the philosophical and pedagogical value of artistic movements, trends, and genres; the nature and limits of creativity, inspiration, and innovation; claims of originality, authorship, and authenticity; and the role of imagination (or fantasy) in crafting and evaluating philosophical positions and arguments.
FACULTY DOING RESEARCH IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF ART AND AESTHETICS INCLUDE:
Theodore George has research interests that include an emphasis on continental European approaches in the philosophy of art and aesthetics, especially in reference to contemporary hermeneutics and related areas, Heidegger, and German Idealism and Romanticism.
Kristi Sweet‘s research in philosophy of art and aesthetics has focused principally on beauty in Kant’s philosophy: its structure, its crucial role in his critical system, and its relation to truth and to the good. More broadly, she is interested in the history of philosophy of art and aesthetics in the European philosophical tradition, with a particular emphasis on German Idealist and Romantic examinations of the metaphysical and systematic import of the beautiful.