Prospects for an Aesthetic of Consciousness

Anna Giustina (Universitat de Valencia)

When: Tuesday October 7 at 11am in Houston/18h in Valencia

Where: https://riceuniversity.zoom.us/j/93096236283?pwd=s6SO6NqrM5mnGpqjFtKNfTNoxaHGUg.1

Who: Anna Giustina

What: "Prospects for an Aesthetic of Consciousness"  

Abstract. Consciousness aesthetics is a newborn research area, whose foundations—what it is about (its content) and how it should be pursued (its methodology)—are yet to be defined. To my dismay, my former exploration of such foundational issues led to quite negative conclusions as to the worthiness of pursuing consciousness aesthetics as a distinctive research program. Here I set out for brighter, much more optimistic avenues. First, I recommend that the aesthetics of consciousness should adopt a method that is different from the one typically used in the epistemology and in the ethics of consciousness. Second, I argue that this may uncover significant and philosophically interesting generalizations as to the aesthetic value of various kinds of phenomenology. Third, I suggest that, based on this, at least three consciousness-aesthetics research strands are worth pursuing, concerning (i) knowledge, (ii) contemplation, and (iii) creation of aesthetic phenomenology. Fourth, I speculate about potential prospects for an aesthetics of consciousness as such, even by adopting the old method. My new conclusion is that consciousness aesthetics is not only viable, but also quite important