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235Nested artJournal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 61 (3). 2003.Explores the artistic metarepresentation of nested art. Nested artistic structure; Contrast between artistic nesting and metafiction; Definition of nested art
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30Literature and rationality: ideas of agency in theory and fictionCambridge University Press. 1991.This book explores concepts of rationality drawn from philosophy and the social sciences, in relation to traditions of literary enquiry. The author surveys basic assumptions and questions in philosophical accounts of action, in decision theory, and in the theory of rational choice. He gives examples ranging from Icelandic sagas to Poe and Beckett, and examines some situations and actions drawn from American and European fiction in order to analyze issues raised by contemporary models of agency. …Read more
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12Literary Knowledge: Humanistic Inquiry and the Philosophy of ScienceSubstance 18 (3): 120. 1988.Paisley Livingston here addresses contemporary controversies over the role of "theory" within the humanistic disciplines. In the process, he suggests ways in which significant modern texts in the philosophy of science relate to the study of literature. Livingston first surveys prevalent views of theory, and then proposes an alternative: theory, an indispensable element in the study of literature, should be understood as a Cogently argued and informed in its judgments, this book points the way to…Read more
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36Disorder and order: proceedings of the Stanford international symposium (Sept. 14-16, 1981) (edited book)Anma Libri. 1984.
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63What is mimetic desire?Philosophical Psychology 7 (3). 1994.This essay provides a conceptual analysis and reconstruction of the notion of mimetic desire, first proposed in Girard (1961). The basic idea behind the idea of mimetic desire is that imitation can play a key role in human motivational processes. Yet mimetic desire is distinguished from related notions such as social modelling and imitation. In episodes of mimetic desire, the process in which the imitative agent's desires are formed is oriented by a particular species of belief about the model o…Read more
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33Bolzano on BeautyBritish Journal of Aesthetics 54 (3): 269-284. 2014.This paper sets forth Bolzano’s little-known 1843 account of beauty. Bolzano accepted the thesis that beauty is what rewards contemplation with pleasure. The originality of his proposal lies in his claim that the source of this pleasure is a special kind of cognitive process, namely, the formation of an adequate concept of the object’s attributes through the successful exercise of the observer’s proficiency at obscure and confused cognition. To appreciate this proposal we must understand how Bol…Read more
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158Teaching & learning guide for: Cinema as philosophyPhilosophy Compass 5 (4): 359-362. 2010.The idea that films can be philosophical, or in some sense ‘do’ philosophy, has recently found a number of prominent proponents. What is at stake here is generally more than the tepid claim that some documentaries about philosophy and related topics convey philosophically relevant content. Instead, the contention is that cinematic fictions, including popular movies such as The Matrix, make significant contributions to philosophy. Various more specific claims are linked to this basic idea. One, r…Read more
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73On Cinematic Genius: Ontology and AppreciationRoyal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 71 85-104. 2012.The word ‘genius’ is often associated with the idea that artistic creativity is entirely a matter of an involuntary sort of inspiration visited upon the individual artist. My aim in referring to cinematic genius is not, however, to defend that dubious thesis, but to direct attention to the remarkable artistic achievements that some film-makers, working individually or in collaborative teams, have managed to bring about in their intentional and often painstaking creation of cinematic works. Geniu…Read more
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295Art and intention: a philosophical studyOxford University Press. 2005.In Art and intention Paisley Livingston develops a broad and balanced perspective on perennial disputes between intentionalists and anti-intentionalists in philosophical aesthetics and critical theory. He surveys and assesses a wide range of rival assumptions about the nature of intentions and the status of intentionalist psychology. With detailed reference to examples from diverse media, art forms, and traditions, he demonstrates that insights into the multiple functions of intentions have impo…Read more
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3Language, Truth, and Literature: A Defence of Literary Humanism. by Gaskin, Richard: Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. xvii+ 376,£ 50.00 (hardback) (review)Australasian Journal of Philosophy 1-4. 2013.
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16Intention and LiteratureStanford French Review 16 173-196. 1992.The issues of authorial intentions and interpretations are discussed. The philosophical dispute between metaphysical realists and metaphysical antirealists on authorial intentions and how these are characterized is examined. While realists maintain that a mind-independent reality exists, antirealists claim that reality is completely mind-dependent and that all things are mere mental constructions.
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78Counting fragments, and Frenhofer’s paradoxBritish Journal of Aesthetics 39 (1): 14-23. 1999.It is quite common to draw a distinction between complete and unfinished works of art. For example, it is uncontroversial to think that Vermeer had actually completed View of Delft before inept restorers added layers of coloured varnish to give the picture an antique quality, and there is very good evidence to support the related claim that the artist had not finished the work before he effected several pentimenti, including the painting over of a figure in the foreground on the right. Such beli…Read more
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1The Ways of Desire: new essays in philosophical psychology on the concept of wanting J. MARKS (review)Philosophical Psychology 2 (1): 125. 1989.
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89Authorship redux: On some recent and not-so-recent work in literary theoryPhilosophy and Literature 32 (1). 2008.Did Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, or other "poststructuralist" theorists writing in the wake of May '68 come up with any good ideas about authorship and related topics in the philosophy of literature? The three volumes under review have a common point of departure in that broad question, but offer a number of contrasting responses to it. In what follows I describe and assess some of the various perspectives on offer in these 700 or so pages. The short answer to my initial que…Read more
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59Narrativity and KnowledgeJournal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 67 (1): 25-36. 2009.The ever-expanding literature on narrative reveals a striking divergence of claims about the epistemic valence of narrative. One such claim is the oftstated idea that narratives or stories generate both “hot” and “cold” epistemic irrationality. A familiar, rival claim is that narrative has an exclusive capacity to embody or convey important types of knowledge. Such contrasting contentions are not typically presented as statements about the accidents or effects of particular narratives; the ambit…Read more
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21Le dilemme de Bratman : problèmes de la rationalité dynamiquePhilosophiques 20 (1): 47-67. 1993.Cet article propose une reconstruction de la théorie de la rationalité dynamique esquissée par Michael Bratman dans Intention, Plans, and Practical Reason. Evaluer la rationalité de l'agent, dit Bratman, ce n'est pas simplement évaluer les raisons d'agir qu'avait l'agent au moment de sa décision. Il faut se demander non seulement si l'agent était rationnel lorsqu'il a formé son intention d'agir, mais aussi s'il l'était encore en gardant ou en abandonnant cette même intention. Il s'agit d'une per…Read more
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9Literary Knowledge: Humanistic Inquiry and the Philosophy of SciencePhilosophical Review 100 (4): 665. 1991.Paisley Livingston here addresses contemporary controversies over the role of "theory" within the humanistic disciplines. In the process, he suggests ways in which significant modern texts in the philosophy of science relate to the study of literature. Livingston first surveys prevalent views of theory, and then proposes an alternative: theory, an indispensable element in the study of literature, should be understood as a Cogently argued and informed in its judgments, this book points the way to…Read more
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66Du Bos' ParadoxBritish Journal of Aesthetics 53 (4): 393-406. 2013.What is now generally known as the paradox of art and negative affect was identified as a paradox by the Abbé Jean-Baptiste Du Bos in 1719. In his attempt to explain how people can admire and enjoy representational works that ‘afflict’ them, Du Bos claims that such representations give rise to ‘artificial’ emotions, provide a pleasurable relief from boredom, and offer us epistemic, artistic, and moral rewards. The paper delineates Du Bos’ proposal, considers the question of Du Bos’ originality, …Read more
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Why Realism Matters: Literary Knowledge and the Philosophy of ScienceIn George Levine (ed.), Realism and Representation, University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 134--54. 1993.
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9Cinematic AuthorshipIn Richard Allen & Murray Smith (eds.), Film Theory and Philosophy, Oxford University Press. 1997.
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131Theses on cinema as philosophyJournal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 64 (1). 1991.The article explores the link between motion pictures and philosophy, citing film's contribution to philosophy, and the illustrative and heuristic roles of films. The philosophical contributions of films may be examined in the films "Vredens Dag," or "Day of Wrath," where filmmaker, Carl Theodor Dreyer used various specifically cinematic means to express ideas pertaining to ethical and epistemic issues, while "The Seventh Seal," provides some ideas about religion
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19Testimony about episodes of artistic creativity often describes a puzzling combination of deliberate and involuntary elements. For example, Vincent Van Gogh wrote that it was possible for him to make an especially expressive picture, or as he put it, something with “feeling” in it, because the picture had already spontaneously taken form in his mind before he started drawing. He added, however, that if there was something worthwhile in the picture, this was “not by accident but because of real i…Read more
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85Artistic Collaboration and the Completion of Works of ArtBritish Journal of Aesthetics 50 (4): 439-455. 2010.We present an analysis of work completion couched in terms of an effective completion decision identified by its characteristic contents and functions. In our proposal, the artist's completion decision can take a number of distinct forms, including a procedural variety referred to as an ‘extended completion decision’. In the second part of this essay, we address ourselves to the question of whether collaborative art-making projects stand as counterexamples to the proposed analysis of work comple…Read more
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9Language, Truth, and Literature: A Defence of Literary Humanism by Gaskin, Richard: Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. xvii + 376, £50.00 (hardback) (review)Australasian Journal of Philosophy 92 (2): 398-401. 2014.[Book review article, no abstract is available]
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3Intention in ArtIn Jerrold Levinson (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics, Oxford University Press. 2003.
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50The Philosophy of ArtBritish Journal of Aesthetics 46 (4): 431-433. 2006.Book review of The Philosophy of Art. By STEPHEN DAVIES.. Blackwell. 2006
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72C. I. Lewis and the outlines of aesthetic experienceBritish Journal of Aesthetics 44 (4): 378-392. 2004.The current essay describes aspects of C. I. Lewis’s rarely cited contributions to aesthetics, focusing primarily on the conception of aesthetic experience developed in An Analysis of Knowledge and Valuation. Lewis characterized aesthetic value as a proper subset of inherent value, which he understood as the power to occasion intrinsically valued experiences. He distinguished aesthetic experiences from experiences more generally in terms of eight conditions. Roughly, he proposed that aesthetic e…Read more
Areas of Specialization
Aesthetics |
Areas of Interest
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Mind |
Aesthetics |
Meta-Ethics |
17th/18th Century Philosophy |