Table Of ContentSemantics of Aesthetic Judgements
Semantics of Aesthetic
Judgements
EDITED BY
James O. Young
1
3
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Preface
This volume is the product of a collaborative research project. The
project was initiated in response to two observations. The first is that
philosophersoflanguagehave,inrecentyears,frequentlyusedaesthetic
judgements as examples when debating the merits of relativist and
contextualist semantics. These philosophers of language have made
progress in understanding semantics, but their knowledge of aesthetics
isinmany cases limited. Consequently, one canwonderabout whether
theirviewsonthesemanticsofaestheticjudgementsareaswellsupported
asonemighthope.Thesecondobservationisthatfewaestheticianshave,
in recent years, devoted much attention to consideration of aesthetic
judgements. (Recently, ontology of artworks has attracted the most
attention.) Some aestheticians who have investigated aesthetic judge-
mentshavedonesowithoutasufficientknowledgeofrecentdebatesin
philosophyoflanguage.
Against this background, I applied for and received a research grant
fromtheSocialSciencesandHumanitiesResearchCouncilofCanadato
bringtogetherresearcherswithbackgroundsinaesthetics,philosophyof
language, andrelated areas, includingmetaphysicsandmetaethics.The
basic idea behind the project was that philosophers from various sub-
disciplinescouldlearnfromeachother.Ameetingoftheresearchgroup
washeldinVictoria,BC,forthreedaysinApril,2012.Theattendeesat
the meeting were Berit Brogaard, David Davies, Craig Derksen, Max
Kölbel,DominicMcIverLopes,DanLópezdeSa,CarlMatheson,Aaron
Meskin,PeterRailton,MichaelJ.Raven,RobStainton,IsidoraStojanovic,
Tim Sundell, and myself. All attendees agreed that the meeting had
successfully achieved its goal of providing for philosophical cross-
fertilization. Elisabeth Schellekens was (for personal reasons) unable to
attend the meeting of the research group, but remained involved in
the project and has contributed a chapter. A second workshop was
organized in conjunction with the meetings of the Canadian Society
for Aesthetics and the Canadian Philosophical Association, held in
VictoriainJune,2013.DavidDavies,AaronMeskin,andTimSundell
presented papers in a session that I chaired. One of my postgraduate
vi PREFACE
students,AnthonyDellaZazzera,actedastheresearchassistantforthe
project, attending the first meeting of the research group and taking
copiousnotes.JonathanFaeber,anotherpostgraduatestudent,assisted
witheditingthefinalpapers.
IrisEinheuserwastohaveparticipatedintheresearchprojectbut,due
to ill health, she had to withdraw from the project shortly before the
firstmeetinginApril,2012.Sadly,shediedjustdaysbeforethemeeting
was held. She was a young philosopher of already very considerable
accomplishment and of even greater promise. Her contribution to this
project was just one of many excellent contributions to our discipline
thatwehavebeendeniedbyheruntimelydeath.
Contents
NotesonContributors ix
Introduction 1
JamesO.Young
1. AestheticAdjectives 17
LouiseMcNallyandIsidoraStojanovic
2. MakingBeautifulTruths 38
DanLópezdeSa
3. DisputingTaste 61
DominicMcIverLopes
4. AestheticNegotiation 82
TimSundell
5. TheSemanticsofSibleyanAestheticJudgments 106
DavidDavies
6. ASemanticFrameworkforAestheticExpressions 121
BeritBrogaard
7. ValueJudgementsandStandardsofNormativeAssessment 140
ElisabethSchellekens
8. AgainsttheSemanticOrientationtowardsAesthetic
Judgement 160
MichaelJ.Raven
9. WeReallyShouldn’tBeHavingthisConversation:Rational
DisengagementinScienceandinArt 185
CarlMatheson
Index 213
Notes on Contributors
BERIT BROGAARD is a Danish and American philosopher specializing in
theareasofcognitiveneuroscience,philosophyofmind,andphilosophy
of language. Her recent work concerns synesthesia, savant syndrome,
blindsight,andperceptualreports.SheisProfessorofPhilosophyinthe
DepartmentofPhilosophyandrunsaperceptionlabattheUniversityof
Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. She is the President of the Southern
SocietyforPhilosophyandPsychologyandthefirstfemalePresidentof
theCentralStatesPhilosophicalAssociation.
DAVIDDAVIESisProfessorofPhilosophyatMcGillUniversity.Heisthe
authorofArtasPerformance(Blackwell2004),AestheticsandLiterature
(Continuum 2007), and Philosophy of the Performing Arts (Wiley-
Blackwell2011).Hehaspublishedwidelyonphilosophicalissuesrelating
tofilm,photography,performance,music,literature,andvisualart,and
on issues in metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of
language.
DAN LÓPEZ DE SA is ICREA Research Professor at the Universitat de
Barcelona. He works mainly in metaphysics and the philosophy of
language,particularlyonvagueness,disagreement,grounding,existence,
and more recently on issues about gender, race, and sexuality. He has
published in Analysis, Erkenntnis, Mind, Noûs, Philosophers’ Imprint,
PhilosophicalStudies,ProceedingsoftheAristotelianSociety,andSynth-
èse,amongothers.
CARL MATHESON is Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the
University of Manitoba. He has written mainly in the philosophy of
science,theontologyofmusic,andthephilosophyofliterature.
DOMINICMCIVERLOPESteachesattheUniversityofBritishColumbiaand
haswrittenbooksandpapersonimagesandtheirvalues,computerart,
theories of art, the ontology of art, and art in culture. His most recent
book is Four Arts of Photography (Wiley-Blackwell 2016) and he is
working on a book entitled Being for Beauty: Aesthetic Agency and
