Nordic Society of Aesthetics' Annual Conference 2017

Conference fee: NOK 1430 (DKK 1158, SEK 1492, EUR 156 ); PhD Students NOK 1185 (DKK 960, SEK 1236, EUR 129) . The conference fee includes access to all sessions, refreshments during coffee breaks and buffet lunch. 1-year membership of The Nordic Society of Aesthetics and 1-year subscription to The Nordic Journal of Aesthetics is also included.  Please contact nse2017@uib.no if you have already paid the 2017 fee 

• Meet and Greet on 8th of June (no cost)
• Conference dinner on Saturday 10th of June: NOK 600 (DKK 486, SEK 626, EUR 65)
• Non-presenting participants are welcome

Registration is now open. Click on the link to register your conference participation https://form.app.uib.no/NSA17

Thursday 8 June

Friday 9 June

Saturday 10 June

Further information about the conference will soon be available on the NSA website and on our own conference website.

Key note abstracts

Please find the other abstracts here

Aesthetic Experience in Science

Angela Breitenbach, University of Cambridge

Scientists routinely speak of the aesthetic merit of theories, proofs and explanations, often regarding the experience of beauty and elegance in science as a motivation for their workand an indication of its truth. But aesthetic judgments in science are as controversial as they are widespread. On one side, aestheticians have worried that statements about the beautyof a theory or the elegance of a proof are merely metaphorical and lack genuine aesthetic status. On the other side, philosophers of science have wondered why aesthetic concerns shouldplay any role in the search for scientific knowledge. I address this two-fold challenge by asking how judgments of beauty could be both aesthetic proper and relevant for scientific enquiry.I propose an answer inspired by the Kantian idea that aesthetic experience is grounded, at least in part, in the subject’s spontaneous intellectual activities. I argue that relevantaesthetic judgments are grounded in the subject’s awareness of her creative intellectual activities in devising and grasping a theory. And I suggest that judgments of this kind may offera heuristic tool for scientific enquiry by indicating achievements of understanding.

Getting It: Art and Attunement

Rita Felski, University of Virginia and University of Southern Denmark

How does one “get” or fail to “get” a work of art?  Why are we drawn to a certain painting or novel or piece of music and stubbornly unmoved by others that seem, on the face of it, not so very different?  Can we do justice to what such a response feels like and why it matters—yet without scanting the prompts and pressures (a college syllabus, an over-the-top review, a parent’s approving look or raised eyebrow) that incline us toward some works rather than others?  Perhaps attunement will give us a fresh slant on such questions. My talk considers various examples of attunement--both sudden and slow--with a particular focus on Zadie Smith's conversion to the music of Joni Mitchell.

Aesthetic Experience and the Experience of Poetry

Peter Lamarque, University of York 

Literature doesn’t lend itself easily to talk of ‘experience’, far less ‘aesthetic experience’. No doubt drama is an obvious exception but drama is partially visual. Any kind of sensory experience seems at best marginal to, for example, the novel. To speak of the experience of a novel seems not to be speaking of sensory experience. Yet the aesthetic—certainly aesthetic experience—seems closely tied to the sensory. Do we then mean something different when talking of experience in the literary realm? Maybe. But poetry lends itself more readily to talk of experience, aesthetic experience in particular and even sensory experience. Is not much of the pleasure of poetry bound up with the sounds, rhythms and textures of poetic language? And is that not both sensory and aesthetic? Although this might seem incontestable it also hints at a kind of formalism in the aesthetic appraisal of poetry. If our focus is on sounds and rhythms what becomes of poetic subject matter? Is that excluded from aesthetic appraisal? That seems undesirable in itself, especially so for those who promote the indivisibility of form and content in poetry. Can form-content unity in a poem afford aesthetic experience? If so, how is that explained? If not, then are we back to a different kind of experience (more like the novel?) in associating poetry with aesthetic experience? These are some of the issues that the lecture will explore. 

Aesthetic Experience Is Not Where the Action Is

Dominic McIver Lopes, University of British Columbia, Vancouver 

Facts about an item’s aesthetic value are normative. Tradition conceives aesthetic normativity as doubly theoretic and practical. That is, facts about aesthetic value make it the case both that aesthetic experiences can be correct or incorrect and that one has reason to perform acts of appreciation that involve having aesthetic experiences. I argue that it is common ground among all theorists that aesthetic value facts give agents reasons to act but that philosophical tradition mistakenly assumes that the only acts we have aesthetic reason to perform are acts of experiential appreciation. Once we reject this assumption, a new theory of aesthetic normativity comes into view. 

The conference will take place in Scandic Hotel Neptun were we also have pre-booked rooms for your convenience so that you can stay in the same hotell where the conference is taking place. The hotel is situated in Bergen City Centre.

The hotel rooms are not included in the conference price. But we have pre-booked rooms at the conference hotel at the standard rate of NOK 1790 for a single room and NOK 1990 for a double room. Breakfast included in the room prices.

Booking code: 778UNI080617
Pre-booking until 23rd of May
E-mail: neptun@scandichotels.com

Other hotel options:

We have pre-booked rooms at two other hotels in Bergen City centre.

Please note that each hotel has a different policy on when the rooms will be released.

Scandic Byparken:
Price for a single room NOK 1 890 breakfast included. An additional NOK 200 per night for a double room.
Booking code: BUNI080617
Pre-booking until 1st of May

Thon Hotel Bristol:
Price for a single room NOK 1 895 breakfast included. An additional NOK 200 per night for a double room.
Booking code: 24497044
Pre-booking until 29th of May