Harvard-NYU Aesthetic Normativity Workshop

Our goal at this workshop is to explore the different normative dimensions of the aesthetic domain. We will discuss questions, like:

• what sort of norms, if any, does the aesthetic domain involve? Are these norms obligations, duties, or norms of some other sort?
• what are aesthetic norms directed toward? Toward the object? Toward oneself? Toward others?
• what is the source of aesthetic normativity? Pleasure? Morality? Cognition? Community? Culture?
• how does aesthetic normativity relate to cognitive or moral normativity?
• how should we understand the relationship between aesthetic normativity and aesthetic value?
• how should we understand the relationship between aesthetic norms and aesthetic reasons?
• what is the nature of the normativity involved in artistic creation? How, if at all, does this intersect with that of aesthetic appreciation?

Participants include:

Caitlin Dolan (UC Berkeley), Hannah Ginsborg (UC Berkeley), Robert Hopkins (NYU), Jenny Judge (NYU), Erin Kelly (Tufts), Alex King (SUNY Buffalo), Robbie Kubala (Columbia), Errol Lord (University of Pennsylvania), Samantha Matherne (Harvard), Alva Noë (UC Berkeley), Antonia Peacocke (NYU), Nick Riggle (University of San Diego), Rebecca Rothfeld (Harvard), Francey Russell (Yale), Nico Sillins (Cornell), Brad Skow (MIT), Brian Soucek (UC Davis)

For the program and practical information, please see: https://sites.google.com/view/aestheticnormativityws

The event is free and open to the public. Registration is not required.

For further information, please contact Samantha Matherne (smatherne@fas.harvard.edu).

This event is being generously supported by the American Society of Aesthetics, the Harvard Philosophy Department, and the New York Institute of Philosophy.