“There’s no arguing about art” is manifestly false. Art is one of the best things to argue about. The question is why. In this public philosophy debate, Nick Riggle (University of San Diego), Nat Hansen (University of Reading), and Zed Adams (The New School) will face off on the question of why arguing about art matters. At stake are two very different conceptions of public life: a Millian liberal vision which encourages the appreciation of difference and an Emersonian perfectionist vision which aims to converge on a shared conception of the good.
Nick Riggle
Associate Professor of Philosophy
University of San Diego
Nick Riggle is a wannabe chef, a dad, a former professional rollerblader, and a Californian born, raised, and residing philosopher who has published work on style, aesthetic discourse, street art, beauty, and other topics in aesthetics and the philosophy of art.
Nat Hansen
Associate Professor of Philosophy
University of Reading
Nat Hansen is a philosopher who has written about color language, the experimental investigation of meaning, and new wave ordinary language philosophy. He thinks that The Living Daylights is the best James Bond movie.
Zed Adams
Associate Professor of Philosophy
The New School
Zed Adams has the most audio cables of any philosopher he knows. He has written on the philosophy of mind, art, and technology. The Living Daylights is not his favorite Bond film.
We’re a community of philosophers of language centered in New York City. We have a meeting each week at which a speaker presents a piece of their own work relating to the philosophy of language.
During Spring 2024, we will meet on Mondays, 5:30–7:30pm in room 202 of the NYU Philosophy Building (5 Washington Place). Anyone with an interest in philosophy of language is welcome.
RSVP: If you don’t have an NYU ID, and if you haven’t RSVPed for a workshop yet during this academic year, please RSVP no later than 10am on the day of the talk by emailing your name, email address, and phone number to Jack Mikuszewski at jhm378@nyu.edu. This is required by NYU in order to access the building. When you arrive, please be prepared to show government ID to the security guard.
January 22nd
Rose Ryan Flinn (NYU)
January 29th
Zeynep Soysal (Rochester)
February 5th
Karen Lewis (Barnard/Columbia)
February 12th
Willow Starr (Cornell)
February 19th
(No workshop)
February 26th
Jeremy Goodman (Johns Hopkins)
March 4th
Julian Jara-Ettinger (Yale)
March 11th
James Walsh (NYU)
March 18th
(no workshop)
March 25th
Cal Howland (Rutgers)
April 1st
(no workshop)
April 8th
Sam Cumming (UCLA)
April 15th
Eno Agolli (Rutgers)
April 22md
(no workshop)
April 29th
Viola Schmitt (Humbolt University Berlin/MIT)
May 6th
Bob Beddor (Florida)
We’re a community of philosophers of language centered in New York City. We have a meeting each week at which a speaker presents a piece of their own work relating to the philosophy of language.
During Spring 2024, we will meet on Mondays, 5:30–7:30pm in room 202 of the NYU Philosophy Building (5 Washington Place). Anyone with an interest in philosophy of language is welcome.
RSVP: If you don’t have an NYU ID, and if you haven’t RSVPed for a workshop yet during this academic year, please RSVP no later than 10am on the day of the talk by emailing your name, email address, and phone number to Jack Mikuszewski at jhm378@nyu.edu. This is required by NYU in order to access the building. When you arrive, please be prepared to show government ID to the security guard.
January 22nd
Rose Ryan Flinn (NYU)
January 29th
Zeynep Soysal (Rochester)
February 5th
Karen Lewis (Barnard/Columbia)
February 12th
Willow Starr (Cornell)
February 19th
(No workshop)
February 26th
Jeremy Goodman (Johns Hopkins)
March 4th
Julian Jara-Ettinger (Yale)
March 11th
James Walsh (NYU)
March 18th
(no workshop)
March 25th
Cal Howland (Rutgers)
April 1st
(no workshop)
April 8th
Sam Cumming (UCLA)
April 15th
Eno Agolli (Rutgers)
April 22md
(no workshop)
April 29th
Viola Schmitt (Humbolt University Berlin/MIT)
May 6th
Bob Beddor (Florida)
The philosophy of art, as practiced in the western world, has tended to have two divided homes: in analytic philosophy and continental philosophy. Within the analytic tradition, the philosophy of art has recently undergone a revival with the emphasis on perception. This has more closely aligned art theory to science and questions of biology as well as to issues within psychology. The continental tradition has traditionally drawn upon phenomenology’s first-person experience with its ties to embodied perception as well as the social and historical concerns of the social aspect of art. In the realm itself of visual art, the state of (so-called) post-post modernism has resulted in both the dissolution of belief in progress and even, according to some art critics, a lamentable stagnation. But many philosophers of the last century, beginning with Walter Benjamin, Adorno, Nelson Goodman, etc., have suggested that art needs to be thought of within its social, pragmatic, or epistemological functions, suggesting perhaps a need to think of art outside the confines of modernism’s stylistic revolutions and formalist issues. Relatedly, the pluralism within science could be accessed as model for this enterprise. Multiple views on a phenomenon are required due to the complexity of the enterprise, and the practice of both making art and of perceiving it might be in that category. This conference seeks to bring these strands, the analytical and the continental ones, together and evaluate how to move forward with art theory in an age of globalization.
We welcome submissions on these possible questions:
1. Should we value a diversity of perspectives in art theory? If so, what is the value? If not, why not?
2. Are there aspects of art that we presume to be universal that are, in fact, culturally situated?
3. How should different ways of experiencing art be characterized?
4. What is the epistemological function of art?
5. How does the monetary role in art affect both the artist and the perceiver of art?
6. How do the mechanics of seeing (e.g., gist perception, peripheral vision, etc.) affect how we experience art?
7. How does the practice of making art relate to the first-person experience?
8. What role does Husserl’s “bracketing” have in the viewing or making of art?
9. Are there specific non-western traditions that provide a better explanatory solution for the role of art than have the competing paradigms of continental and analytic?
We welcome your participation and look forward to your contributions. Papers should not extend over 45 minutes. Q & A are 15 minutes.
To submit anonymized abstract BY JULY 15, 2024: papers: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5c9bmoBYb3hCAb0YWWfzV0BLWbhig2PD5VeKU358VA3RKGw/viewform?usp=sf_link