Phenomenology has always been closely associated with aesthetics and the\n arts. Even Husserl\, who conceives it as a 'rigorous science'\, remarks \non the close relation between phenomenological reflection and \n'disinterested' aesthetic judgment. The later Heidegger\, although \ndismissive of aesthetics\, describes poetic art as the 'happening of \ntruth' and the 'opening of the world'. Merleau-Ponty hopes to find in \nartistic practice clues for a practice of phenomenology as an embodied \nalternative to scientistic and intellectualist models of inquiry. We \nshould remember also the contributions made to phenomenology\, \naesthetics\, and reflections on the arts by Sartre\, Levinas\, Ricoeur\, \nIngarden\, Dufrenne\, De Beauvoir\, and Hartmann among others. More \ngenerally\, hermeneutic and later post-structuralist strands of \nphenomenology\, with their emphasis on interpretation and textuality over\n and against purely logical or causal explanation\, often pitch their \ncritiques in artistic\, or literary\, modes of engagement.
Artists\, in turn\, find in phenomenology a type of philosophical \nreflection that offers ways of thinking about the complex embodied and \nsocial experiences of their practice. In particular\, phenomenological \napproaches have been exploited as alternatives to the earlier conceptual\n turn in art making. Now it is time to rethink the relations between \nphenomenology\, aesthetics and the arts in contemporary contexts of new \npolitical\, wider social and scientific developments.
The British Society for Phenomenology and the newly established Irish \nPhenomenological Circle have joined together for this conference in \norder to unite international voices from both philosophical and artistic\n fields for an open discussion of the potential contributions \nphenomenology can make to philosophical and artistic practices and \ndebates.
If you are interested in reading a paper at the conference\, please send \nan abstract of approx. 1000 words by 15 January\, 2012 to bsp.ipc.2012@gmail.com.
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