Boston University
Department of Philosophy
PhD, 1985
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
  •  17
    This is the first modern, annotated and scholarly edition of Jean-Baptiste Du Bos’ _Critical Reflections on Poetry and Painting_, one of the seminal works of modern aesthetics in any language.
  •  34
    Kant on Form or Design
    Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 79 (1): 112-115. 2021.
  •  3
    Jenefer Robinson, Ed., Music and Meaning
    Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 56 (3): 314-316. 1998.
  •  29
    Kant's Musical Antiformalism
    Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 78 (2): 171-182. 2020.
  •  6
    Philosophical Perspectives on Music
    Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 57 (1): 75-76. 1999.
  •  5
    Authenticities: Philosophical Reflections on Musical Performance
    Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 54 (2): 198-200. 1995.
  •  12
    Literary Fiction and the Cultivation of Virtue
    Croatian Journal of Philosophy 19 (2): 315-330. 2019.
    Many philosophers have claimed that reading literary fiction makes people more virtuous. This essay begins by defending the view that this claim is empirical. It goes on to review the empirical literature and finds that this literature supports the claim philosophers have made. Three mechanisms are identified whereby reading literary fiction makes people more virtuous: empathy is increased when readers enter imaginatively into the lives of fictional characters; reading literary fiction promotes …Read more
  •  3
    Feeling and Imagination: The Vibrant Flux of Our Existence (review)
    Review of Metaphysics 57 (1): 180-180. 2003.
    This book is an exploration of “affective attachment,” which Singer describes as “the part of affective life which is pertinent to the phenomenon of attachment.” Affective attachment includes sex, love, and compassion. It is difficult to summarize Singer’s views on this topic. Singer sees the book as a systematic exploration of affective attachment, “a single unfolding of speculative thought.” At the same time he allows that he finds “that our affective being is so mercurial that touching on it …Read more
  •  153
    The Ethics of Cultural Appropriation (edited book)
    with Conrad G. Brunk
    Wiley-Blackwell. 2009.
    _The Ethics of Cultural Appropriation_ undertakes a comprehensive and systematic investigation of the moral and aesthetic questions that arise from the practice of cultural appropriation. Explores cultural appropriation in a wide variety of contexts, among them the arts and archaeology, museums, and religion Questions whether cultural appropriation is always morally objectionable Includes research that is equally informed by empirical knowledge and general normative theory Provides a coherent an…Read more
  •  16
    Empiricism and the Ontology of Jazz
    Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia 74 (4): 1255-1266. 2018.
    This essay argues that there is no alethic basis for adopting one ontology of jazz music rather than another. Any ontology of jazz that is consistent with the available empirical evidence may be adopted, though pragmatic reasons may exist for favouring one ontology of jazz over another. There are empirical differences between jazz and much of classical music, but one may adopt the same ontology for jazz that one adopts for works classical music.
  •  41
    It has long been known that Jean-Baptiste Du Bos exercised a considerable influence on Hume’s essays and, in particular, on the ‘Of the Standard of Taste’ and ‘Of Tragedy’. It has also been noted that some passages in the Treatise bear marks of Du Bos’ influence. In this essay, we identify many more passages in the Treatise that bear unmistakable signs of Du Bos’ influence. We demonstrate that Du Bos certainly had a significant impact on Hume as he wrote the Treatise. We go on to argue that Hume…Read more
  •  86
    How Classical Music is Better than Popular Music
    Philosophy 91 (4): 523-540. 2016.
    In at least one respect, classical music is superior to popular music. Classical music has greater potential for expressiveness and, consequently, has more potential for psychological insight and profundity. The greater potential for expressiveness in classical music is due, in large part, to it greater harmonic resources. The harmonies in classical music are more likely to be functional, more contrary motion is employed, and modulation is more common. Although popular music employs rhythms not …Read more
  • Reason, Truth and History (review)
    Eidos: The Canadian Graduate Journal of Philosophy 2
  • An answer is provided to the question of the conditions under which sentences are true. Realists claim that reality provides the truth conditions of sentences. Realism is rejected. An anti-realist position according to which truth is relative to the theories of linguistic communities is adopted. A sentence is true if and only if warranted by theories held to be correct by a community. ;Many of the standard objections to anti-realism and relativist positions are considered and refuted. Anti-reali…Read more
  • David Armstrong, A World of States of Affairs (review)
    Philosophy in Review 18 157-158. 1998.
  •  2
    Representation in Literature
    Literature & Aesthetics 9 127-143. 1999.
  •  137
    This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction Is ‘subject appropriation’ a misnomer? Subject appropriation and misrepresentation Cultural Appropriation and Assimilation Harm and Accurate Representation Privacy Authenticity and Subject Appropriation Envoy Conclusion References.
  •  38
    The Immorality of Applied Ethics
    International Journal of Applied Philosophy 3 (2): 37-43. 1986.
  •  68
    Aesthetic Antirealism
    Southern Journal of Philosophy 35 (1): 119-134. 1997.
  •  16
    Pragmatism and the Fate of Philosophy
    Dialogue 23 (4): 683-686. 1984.
  •  110
    Should white men play the blues?
    Journal of Value Inquiry 28 (3): 415-424. 1994.
  • Relativism Revisited
    Indian Philosophical Quarterly 17 374-377. 1990.
  •  52
    The ‘great divide’ in music
    British Journal of Aesthetics 45 (2): 175-184. 2005.
    Several prominent philosophers of music, including Lydia Goehr and Peter Kivy, maintain that the experience of music changed drastically in about 1800. According to the great divide hypothesis, prior to 1800 audiences often scarcely attended to music. At other times, music was appreciated as part of social, civic, or religious ceremonies. After the great divide, audiences began to appreciate music as an exclusive object of aesthetic experience. The great divide hypothesis is false. The musicolog…Read more
  •  80
    Destroying works of art
    Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 47 (4): 367-373. 1989.
  •  61
    Between rock and a Harp place
    Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 53 (1): 78-81. 1995.
  •  97
    Art and the educated audience
    Journal of Aesthetic Education 44 (3): 29-42. 2010.
    When writing about art, aestheticians tend to focus on the work of art and on the artist who produces it. When they refer to audiences, they typically speak only of the effect that the artwork has on its audience. Aestheticians pay little, if any, attention to the important active role that an audience plays in the workings of a healthy art world. My goal in this essay is to do something to end the neglect of the audience. I will focus on the role of the informed or, as I will call it, educated …Read more