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ABSTRACTS OF PANELS FROM THE 2010 CONFERENCE PROGRAM FRIDAY, 9 July
2010 9:00-10:30: First & Second Sessions, Concurrent. First
Session (De Vargas Room): Defininitions and Cosmologies. - S.K.
Wertz, Philosophy (Emeritus), Texas Christian University
"Tao Chi's Theory of Painting: Chinese
Cosmic Landscapes" In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries (C.E.), Tao Chi wrote comments in the
corners of his paintings (mostly Chinese landscapes painted from memory). These comments have been collected under the title
Quotes on Painting. They discuss the painting process of his artworks and others. The basic tenets of his theory
are in sharp contrast with Plato's, so to provide a significant setting for Tao Chi, I develop parallel points in Plato's
theory along side Tao Chi's. For example, Tao Chi thinks that painting can depict the forms of the universe whereas Plato
believes that painting is the furthest removed from the forms (it reflects at best an illusory appearance of things). Transparencies
of Tao Chi's paintings will be shown to illustrate his theory. - Erman Kaplama,
Humanities and Cultural Studies, University of London
"Cosmological Aesthetics through The Kantian Sublime
and Nietzschean Dionysian" This paper concerning the transition between the natural forces and aesthetic concepts
will try to examine how we take nature in and apply it to the concepts of understanding with regards to the Sublime and
Dionysian. In doing so, the Kantian sublime shall be defined both cosmologically and aesthetically, both as the aesthetic
representation of Nature as a whole, and as an idea generated within the faculty of the power of Judgment, which "schematises
the transition from the sensible to supersensible". It is going to be proved that not only is the Dionysian an aesthetic
theory that links Nature (phusis) to Human Nature (ethos) as represented in the Chorus in Greek Tragedy
(playing an intermediary role between the gods and humans), but also is the symbolic representation of the universal-cosmic
forces that require Apollonian form and sense giving force for its actualization.
Second
Session (Boardroom): Literary Aesthetics. - Frances
Downing, Architecture, Texas A&M University
"The Edge of a Novel" I would like to
address the differences between purely academic writing and contrast it to the form of the Novel. The process is different,
the structure is quite different, and the pauses one takes to regroup are dissimilar; the flow of a novel to me seems to be
hermeneutic where one "loops" back as the story and characters are revealed so that progression is not purely linear.
The narrative is like a non-linear equation; in architecture the "golden section" can only suggest a beginning and
an end, in reality we simply cannot draw it into infinity, and to me this seems to be true of any story, we simply choose
to begin and end somewhere along a continuous, hermeneutic journey. - John Samson,
English, Texas Tech University
"The Bearable Lightness of Being: Nabokov's Ada, or Ardor" I
will focus on images of light and transparency in Nabokov's masterwork, concentrating particularly on the character Lucette.
Through her, I will argue Nabokov deconstructs his narrator's (Van Veen's) text and reveals a central aspect of his aesthetic. - George
Moore, English, University of Colorado-Boulder
"Rage for Order: Fascist Politics and Modernist Aesthetics" This
paper will explore aspects of authoritarianism in the form of aesthetic and political ideas of order represented by a number
of modernist writers. The idea of order here links the social and political views to a variety of aesthetic experiments. In
particular, Gertrude Stein's use of Otto Weininger's Sex and Character proves both anti-Semitic and homophobic. It
is a work that Stein not only greatly admired but found instrumental in her own development of fictional characterizations.
Similarly, D. H. Lawrence's late attraction to authoritarian regimes that would support his own problematic definitions of
gender, and in particular of sexual difference and phallic power, augmented by the idea of racial "blood consciousness"
as found in works like The Plumed Serpent. Lawrence, if not directly connected with fascist ideas, supported
theories of natural human order that mirror authoritarian principles shared by many. Although Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
were certainly prime movers for the modernist connection to fascist ideologies, Eliot's most difficult work, the later suppressed
After Strange Gods, can best be read as a parallel experiment in cultural order through aesthetic form. The conclusion
of this research suggests not a direct parallel between aesthetic form and political authoritarianism, but rather the modernist
struggle with various ideas of order that reflect both the changing attitudes toward form in art and literature and the political
uncertainties of the early decades of the twentieth century. 11:00-12:50:
Third & Fourth Sessions, Concurrent. Third Session (De Vargas Room):
The Representation of Environment / Native Cultures. - Allison Hagerman,
Philosophy, University of New Mexico
"An Uncanny Nature: Taking a Side Road to Aesthetic Appreciation of
Environment" This presentation will summarize some of the main points of my dissertation, in which I examine the
potential of the experience of the uncanny to facilitate a virtuous appreciation of both natural and built environments. This
is somewhat of an uphill battle due to the fact that the uncanny is traditionally viewed as "morally deflationary"
in the West. In addition to giving some background on the history of the uncanny, I will discuss both Freud and Heidegger's
treatment of it, as well as the possibility that the uncanny may have a parallel in omoshiroi of Japanese aesthetics.
If, indeed, omoshiroi can be understood as an experience similar to the uncanny, then perhaps some of the virtues
that arise from the cultivation of its appreciation can be coaxed and developed through an appreciation of the uncanny. I
would like to include in this presentation examples (powerpoint slides) of what I take to be manifestations of the uncanny
in the built environment from both ancient and contemporary cultures. The basic impetus of this presentation is to open up
discussion as to whether or not the uncanny can be experienced as something that meaningfully reconnects us to our situatedness
in our environment rather than alienates us from it. - Roger Paden, Philosophy, George
Mason University
"A New Aesthetics of Nature and the Absence of the Sublime" In this talk, I will
focus mainly on the claim that, historically, the picturesque has played a central role in grounding aesthetic judgments of
nature. To make my case for this claim, I will focus on the writings of the American Transcendentalist (read with an eye on
the work of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer) and on the efforts to create the U.S. National Park system. In particular, I will
examine the passage from Muir's "A Near View of the High Sierra." This passage is often used to provide historical
support for their attack on the picturesque. I will argue that, in fact, it illustrates the historical importance of the sublime.
Following this discussion, I will briefly describe some of Carlson's philosophical arguments against the picturesque and argue
that these arguments cannot be used against the sublime. - David Conter, Philosophy,
Huron University College
"Cowboy Art, Indian Art, Romanticism, Nostalgia, Truth" The paper examines
four paintings (which are to be shown to the audience.) Two were painted by Charles M. Russell (1865-1926): In the Wake
of the Buffalo Runners (1911) and Her Heart is on the Ground (1917). In each painting, the central figure
is an Indian woman who has evidently been separated from the man to whom she is devoted. The other two paintings are by Mateo
Romero (1966- ): Bonnie and Clyde Series #1 and #4. Romero describes
the people represented in these paintings as "hip, urban Indian lovers, hanging out in the back of a convertible, drinking
and chain-smoking." A question arises whether these paintings are 'truer' than Russell's. The paper proceeds obliquely,
considering a number of explanations for the content of the paintings. The first relates their content to what might be called
American imperialism in the westward expansion. Romanticism is briefly discussed in connection with all four paintings with
respect to the treatment of outsiders as heroic and sublime. It is rejected as an explanation because it is too broad. Finally,
Bernard Williams's treatment of nostalgia in the context of politics is invoked. The suggestion is made that all four paintings
point more or less directly to the idea of a better but irretrievable past. The paper ends with a question: is painterly or
photographic realism the only way to stick to the truth? SATURDAY, 10 July 2010 9:00-10:30:
Fifth & Sixth Sessions, Concurrent. Fifth Session (De Vargas Room):
Time Passages. - Michael Manson, Independent Scholar (English), and
Scott Stewart, Philosophy, Cape Breton University
"Stranger in a New World: J.M. Coetzee's
Disgrace" Being old is revered in many cultures and is regarded as an indicator of experience and reflection
that leads to wisdom not available to youth. In many post-modern cultures, however, this tradition is often displaced, and
age is seen, rather, as an impediment. J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace depicts one view of the difficulty an aging man faces
in light of social changes that cover the spectrum from politics and power to language and sex. The changing world which David
Lurie, Coetzee's protagonist, is forced to confront challenges him in ways that he neither expects nor that he is able adapt
to except, perhaps, in the slightest and least significant of ways. David is, therefore, stymied by his approaching
old age, by his failures and his subsequent retreat from that new world. This paper discusses his failure, it's roots and
consequences, and, thus, Coetzee's view of what a society such as the novel's new South Africa holds in store for those who,
like David, are all but entirely dislocated in the society in which they, themselves, had been central and in control. - Patrick
McKee, Philosophy, Colorado State University
"Old Age Style and the Sublime Landscape" I
propose a presentation linking old age style in painting and the sublime landscape.
In recent publications I have defended a conjecture, following a remark in Kant, (see CPJ, 5:276) that the
"old age style" known to art historians and to gerontologists may be seen as an expression of the artist's increasing
aesthetic interest in the sublime. Such an age-developmental shift in aesthetic interest is predictable on the basis of Lars
Tornstam's gerotranscendence theory in recent gerontology, and on the basis of Kant's remarks on human development in his
ethical and anthropological writings. I shall briefly explicate the ideas of old age style, the sublime in landscapes, and
gerotranscendence. The presentation I propose aims to partially integrate these ideas. Sixth Session
(Boardroom): Aesthetics and Ethics. - Lawrence
Rhu, English / Comp Lit, University of South Carolina
"Emersonian Affinities: Reading Richard Ford
through Stanley Cavell" Via Cavell's thinking this essay demonstrates the kinship among the American writers Emerson,
Percy, Ford, and, of course, Cavell. These four share profound affinities, despite their clear divergences and their various
degrees of isolation from one another. Even when these four writers are not directly engaging one another's work, they sustain
parts in conversations that meaningfully include them all. The resources of both philosophy and literature, as Cavell has
discovered and developed them, serve us well in exploring what Emerson would term the "spiritual affinities" among
these four major American writers. - Norman Fischer, Philosophy, Kent State University
"Georg
Lukacs's Hegelian Marxism and Scott's Novels of Knighthood and Pre-Modern Clans" In 1936 and 1937, the German speaking
Hungarian philosopher, Georg Lukács, contributed to a Hegelian aesthetics of imagination linked to a Hegelian and Marxist
political ethics and philosophy of history, when he presented, in The Historical Novel, an imaginative aesthetics
for understanding historical novels, with emphasis on Walter Scott. In order to develop an abstract aesthetics of imagination
that incorporates political and historical ethics, (one) the general Hegelianism of Lukács' enterprise must be logically
separated from (two) the contemporary political framework in which he wrote, which is leftist and Marxist. This is particularly
important for understanding Scott's premodern novels, where only a strong Hegelian emphasis can unlock their peculiar mix
of radicalism and conservatism. Loquacious linked Hegelianism and popular front Marxism so closely in The Historical
Novel that they often appear as logically inseparable, but at a deeper philosophical level they are logically separable,
and must be seen as such in order to bring out the deepest elements in Scott's political-historical imagination, particularly
in his novels of premodern clans, knighthood, chivalry and crusades. 11:00-12:30:
Seventh Session, Plenary. Seventh Session (De Vargas Room): On
Music, Nature, and Art. - Rudolf
Brun, Biology (Emeritus), Texas Christian University
"Simplexity in Music and Nature" There
are two understandings of simplicity. Simplicity can be poor or rich. Consider music, a note is simple, a B-flat or a C-sharp.
A composer, however, can use such simplicity to bring forth a melody, which is obviously more complex. Yet, picking random
notes will not do. Rather, different notes must form a new unit, a melody. A melody may serve as an element of an even more
complex unity, the movement of a symphony that may be part of a still more complex unity, the unity of a symphony for example.
Alternatively, deconstructing a symphony reveals that it consists of simpler parts, its movements, that in turn are themselves
complex unities of still simpler melodies which are unities of notes that emerge from integrated sound waves and textures.
Music emerges from the integration of simple units that are, however, already complex. The architecture of music is simple
and complex- it is simplex. - Karen Hillier, Practicing Artist, Texas
and New Mexico
"I Remember" I am developing a body of work in a variety of mediums. Using drawing,
photography, installation, video, sound, and through the construction of garments in ephemeral fabrics such as tulle, I have
begun an examination of these ordinary household practices and particular linens. Questions are raised. Many center on gender
imprinting. Ironically, the constructed garments are used as projection screens for video and still images. I will present
examples of my work to date emphasizing drawings and still photographs and show original works in addition to projected
images. I will speak primarily of process from my own experience and reference the work of artists with whom I have a working
affinity such as Louise Bourgeois who is included in The Lining of Forgetting.
SUNDAY,
11 July 2010 9:00-11:00: Ninth Session, Plenary. Ninth
Session (De Vargas Room): Aesthetics and The Visual. - Raphael
Sassower, Philosophy, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs
"Visual Literacy as Activism" In
this paper I argue first that visual language is more dominant today than the textual, and second, that because of the dominance
of visual language, visual literacy ought to be studied and taught more rigorously. It is my contention that visual literacy
can make us more critical in general and thus more politically astute in particular. In the case of war images, especially
given our involvement in two theaters simultaneously, this could lead to an entirely different public discourse on the merits
or demerits of our continued engagement in these theaters. - Cornelia Tsakiridou, Philosophy,
La Salle University
"Enargeia: The Living Image in Icons and in Some Photographs by Sebastiao Salgado" The
paper discusses the concept of enargeia associated in Greek philosophy and art criticism since the
time of Plato with the vivid presence of a being or image. Particularly relevant to the appreciation of the Byzantine
icon in some of its exemplary instances, the concept has theological and aesthetic implications in that context. These extend
to more contemporary art forms like photography as we will show in the case of the work of Sebastiao Salgado. - Flo
Leibowitz, Philosophy, Oregon State University
"The Hubble Photographs as Aesthetic Objects" In
this presentation, I analyze several digital photographs released by the Hubble Heritage Team (their releases are popularly
known as "the Hubble photographs"), comparing them with Moon and Half Dome and Clearing Winter Sky.
Thus construed, the Hubble photographs are aesthetically substantial nature photographs. Thus construed, their look is in
part a product of the intentions of the Hubble Heritage Team, whose published intentions are in part aesthetic. Thus construed,
the Hubble photographs, while not "snapshots", are in many respects interpretable using familiar notions of photographic
objectivity and transparency.
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