virtual philosopher

The Way Academic Journals Should Go - Contemporary Aesthetics

Contemporary Aesthetics is an online blind-reviewed high-quality free journal. This is a sensible way forward for academic journals - in Philosophy at least.

For many years journal publishers have been convincing philosophers to provide camera-ready copy, editorial support and give up their copyright in journal articles for no payment...Then their institutions would have to pay a high subscription. Not a great deal, given the large sums of money the publishers were making from the procedure...It is gratifying to see some philosophers seizing the means of production and by-passing publishers using this new technology.

Publishers of philosophy journals will have to offer more than they have done if they are going to compete with this sort of set up.

Mary Mothersill has died

Author of Beauty Restored and various other works on the philosophy of art, Mary Mothersill, died on January 22nd. There is an obituary from Linda Nochlin here.  And another one by Jane McIntyre here.
 

7 Ways of Thinking About Art - Tate Modern

I will be leading a course on the Philosophy of Art at Tate Modern -  Seven Ways of Thinking About Art - on Monday evenings 6.30- 8pm,  4th February - 17th March this year (followed by a drink in the bar from 8pm). If you are interested in attending you should book soon as these courses sell out quite quickly. I'll be posting notes from the course on my other weblog Art and Allusion. This course is a mixture of classroom discussion and looking at works of art in the gallery after the public have left (a privilege in itself).

You can get an idea of the sorts of topics covered in this course and my approach by looking at my notes from the last time I taught the course here. We won't necessarily be looking at the same works for the upcoming course.

This course is also the basis of a book I am writing with the same name...but don't hold your breath.

Tate Modern Course on Louise Bourgeois - Advance Warning

Transformations: Louise Bourgeois’ Art About Life

Led by Nigel Warburton. Venue: Tate Modern.
Monday evenings 19th Nov.- 10th Dec. 2007. Booking details now available from Tate Modern.

This 4-session course investigates Louise Bourgeois’ art from a philosophical angle. Rather than dwelling on art historical connections, participants will have the opportunity to explore and discuss her work through the key themes of Life into Art, the Ambivalent Body, Transforming Pain, and Artistic Style. Bourgeois has declared that her work is about life: this course will provide a framework within which to examine that claim in the presence of the wide range of her art assembled for the major retrospective exhibition at Tate Modern. Each session will focus on a single theme, triggered by Bourgeois work, but will also address wider issues about the nature of art and expression.

Notes on Session 2 of Beyond Seeing, Tate Modern

Notes from the second session of the course I'm leading at Tate Modern, Beyond Seeing, including short clips from an interview I made with artist Oswaldo Macia, are available here.

Notes from session one.

Course Outline.

Next week: Taste and 'Taste'...

Blackburn on Hume on Taste

Simon Blackburn has some excellent notes and a detailed reading list on David Hume on Taste here.
He makes a spirited case for the continuing relevance of Hume's writing to our understanding of judgements about works of art. These are his notes for an undergraduate course. I wish I could have attended it. I don't know of a better way in to Hume's thoughts on this area.

Chance-Dream-Desire-Taboo - Outline and Notes from Session One

Course Outline for  Chance-Dream-Desire-Taboo, the course I'm teaching at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Notes from Session One: CHANCE are here.

Booking Now Open for Tate Modern Course 'Beyond Seeing'

Online booking is now open for the course I'm teaching at Tate Modern, 'Beyond Seeing', Monday evenings 4th June - 9th July 6.30 - 8.00 p.m. (followed by a drink in the Level One Café).  Further details here.

Beyond Seeing: Course at Tate Modern Starting June 2007

Booking hasn't opened yet, but this is just to give advance warning of a new course at Tate Modern, beginning on the first Monday in June...it should be advertised soon in the next Tate programme, and on the Tate Modern website.

Beyond Seeing: the Senses in Art

6 sessions, Tate Modern,  June – July 2007
Monday evenings, 6.30- 8 p.m. followed by a drink in the level one café
Led by Nigel Warburton, author of The Art Question

Our experience of art and our construction of reality depend intimately upon our senses. Although our sense of sight is dominant in the appreciation of visual art, other senses come in to play in a variety of ways. Philosopher Nigel Warburton leads this six-session course which explores the nature and role of our various senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch, but also the ‘extra’ senses of proprioception and of time passing) in relation to works within the Tate Modern collection. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss a range of theoretical positions and test their application against particular works in the gallery. No prior knowledge of philosophy or art history is assumed.

Notes from Final Session of 7 Ways of Thinking About Art, Tate Modern

Notes on Art as Iconic, session seven of Seven Ways of Thinking about Art available here.