Conference Venue: Department of Aesthetics and Theory of Art, Sorbonne University     

Date:  17 November 2023    

Keynote speaker: Esther Leslie (Birkbeck)    

This conference is centred on the role of women in aesthetics and philosophy of art, which has been traditionally neglected or obscured in dominant approaches to the discipline. The aim of the conference is twofold. It intends, on the one hand, to re-examine the contribution of women philosophers to aesthetics and philosophy of art. On the other hand, it intends to reflect on how feminist art and theory have been integrated into aesthetics, questioning if they raise new aesthetic problems.ÌęÌęÌę  

We invite submissions that explore the overlaps between aesthetics, philosophy of art and women. Possible topics include but are not limited to:     

• Women Aestheticians     
• Women Philosophers of Art     
• Women Philosophers in Aesthetics of Music     
• Women Philosophers in Aesthetics of Cinema and Photography      
• Women Philosophers and Aesthetics : New Directions     
• Feminist Aesthetics     
• Art, Politics and FeminismÌęÌęÌę  

Submission Guidelines:     

Papers should be suitable for a 25-minute presentation. They can be written in English or French.   

To apply, please submit the following documents to Cristina.Parapar-Cabanas@etu.univ-paris1.fr and beatriz.rodrigues@kcl.ac.uk:     

• 500-word abstract, in a Word document or PDF, prepared for anonymous review;    
• Document in a separate attachment with your name, institution and position, email address, and short biography.ÌęÌęÌę  

We especially encourage submissions from members of marginalised groups.ÌęÌęÌę  

Deadline for submission: 10 August 2023     

Notifications of acceptance will be sent out by 15 August.ÌęÌęÌę

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Beatriz Rodrigues (King’s College London)   

Cristina Parapar (Sorbonne University)   

The conference follows the First International Conference on Beauty and Change in 2022, which established a highly successful interdisciplinary forum for discussing recent advancements in philosophical and empirical aesthetics. This year’s conference will be devoted to the theme “Aesthetic Experience: Philosophical, Psychological and Neuroscientific Perspectives” and will gather leading scholars from the three fields of philosophy, psychology and neuroscience to strengthen the emerging interdisciplinary interest around the notion of aesthetic experience.

Confirmed invited speakers:

Elvira Brattico (Aarhus University & University of Bari Aldo Moro)

Beatriz Calvo-Merino (City, University of London)

Ana Clemente (University of Barcelona)

Gregory Currie (University of York)

Bence Nanay (University of Antwerp)

Sander Van de Cruys (University of Antwerp)

The Theme

Recent years have seen a surge of attention in the interdisciplinary study of aesthetics, with philosophers, psychologists and neuroscientists converging on many core interests and new research aims. On the one hand, philosophers are rediscovering the original vocation of aesthetics as a “science of sensuous cognition” and are looking with increasing interest at the results of the empirical sciences of mind. On the other hand, psychologists are elaborating wide-ranging theories that connect aesthetic experience to other psychological phenomena of general interest such as learning, affect, valence, attention, motivation, memory, well-being, and the dynamics of personal and sub-personal experience. From yet another disciplinary perspective, neuroscientists interested in the study of art and aesthetics are animating the booming subfield of neuroaesthetics, whose latest developments have abandoned overly reductionistic premises and are starting to deliver nuanced insights on several aspects of our aesthetic encounters.

The Second International Conference on Beauty and Change aims at surveying this new and fast-growing interdisciplinary landscape, tackling remaining contrasts between theoretical perspectives and attempting broader syntheses. It will provide a forum where all disciplines can contribute as equal partners in the study of human aesthetic experiences and other crucial aspects of our cognitive makeup. To that end, we are looking for well-informed theoretical or empirical contributions that might be of interest to an interdisciplinary audience. Topics include but are not limited to:

• Philosophical, psychological and neuroscientific perspectives on the definition of aesthetic experience and related concepts (liking, hedonic experience, aesthetic judgement, taste, aesthetic sensitivity, etc.)
• Philosophical, psychological and neuroscientific perspectives on the differences and continuities between aesthetic and non-aesthetic experience
• The relationship between aesthetic experience and other psychological phenomena such as learning, affect, valence, curiosity, attention, motivation, etc
• The relationship between the phenomenology of our aesthetic encounters and underlying neural and psychological processes
• The contribution of particular psychological and neuroscientific theories (e.g. flow, processing fluency, predictive processing, embodied simulation theory, etc.) to our understanding of aesthetic experience
• Aesthetic experiences in different media and with different art forms
• Therapeutical and clinical applications of research on art and aesthetic experience;
• The respective roles of philosophy, psychology and neuroscience in the interdisciplinary study of aesthetics
• Future aims and challenges for the interdisciplinary study of aesthetics

Submission Guidelines

The organisers accept two types of submissions: talks (20 minutes + 10 minutes for discussion) and posters. For both types of submission, please send an abstract of no more than 300 words in WORD or PDF format to beautyandchange@fondazioneamendola.it by 31 July 2023.

Abstracts must be written in English and prepared for blind review. In the body of your email, please indicate the names and affiliations of all the authors (specifying the presenting author), your preferred presentation type (talk or poster), and your preferred conference session (Philosophy, Psychology or Neuroscience).

The organisers especially encourage submissions from women, early career researchers and members of underrepresented groups, and will take diversity into account when making decisions for inclusion in the programme.

Important Dates

Deadline for submissions: 31 July 2023
Notification of acceptance: 15 August 2023

Conference dates: 2-4 November 2023

Conference Costs

Conference fee for students (BA and MA): free
Conference fee for untenured researchers (PhD students and postdocs): €100
Conference fee for tenured researchers: €200
Conference dinner (optional): €40

Scientific Committee

Alice Cancer (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan)

Jacopo Frascaroli (University of Turin)

Irene Ronga (University of Turin)

Maria Luisa Rusconi (University of Bergamo)

Katiuscia Sacco (University of Turin)

Pietro Sarasso (University of Turin)

Sander Van de Cruys (University of Antwerp)

Other Information

Information about venue, travel and accommodation will be made available on the in due course.

The organisers aim to make the conference as accessible as possible. Please do not hesitate to contact the conference organisers to discuss accessibility requirements.

All questions and correspondence should be addressed to the Organising Committee at: beautyandchange@fondazioneamendola.it

The relationship between aesthetic and ethical value in the arts

Similarities and differences between virtue theoretic approaches to both fields

The role of aesthetic considerations to living well, doing good, or right action

Meta-normative questions about the (dis)unity of the different values

The confirmed keynote speakers are Prof Paul C. Taylor and Prof Heather Widdows.
The organisers are pleased to invite abstracts sufficiently in keeping with this aim of no more than 1,000 words. Abstracts should:
Outline the paper’s principal argument(s)
Give a good sense of the paper’s philosophical contribution(s).
Be anonymized.
Papers should be suitable for a 35-minute presentation, followed by 30 minutes for discussion.

Please submit your abstract to artandethics@soton.ac.uk with the subject heading ‘Beauty and Goodness’. The deadline is the 7th June, 2019. Potential applicants with doubts about the suitability of their paper may contact us at artandethics@soton.ac.uk.
The conference will cover the cost of travel for authors without access to relevant research funds, and up to three nights’ accommodation where the cost of this would be otherwise prohibitive. We will also aim to provide and pay for authors’ childcare, should it be required, through the University of Southampton’s Early Years Centre. Applicants should inform The organisers of their eligibility for support once their papers have been accepted. Authors who are unable to participate in person, will be invited to participate remotely via video-conferencing software.
The organisers sincerely encourage participants from groups whose voices are disproportionately excluded from philosophical discourse to submit abstracts.

The conference is being organized in accordance with the BPA/SWIP’s Good Practice Scheme and their Guidelines for Accessible Conferences.
Accessibility Information
The organisers aim to make this conference as accessible as possible, in line with the SWIP/BPA guidance for accessible conferences. While the precise venue is yet to be confirmed, the organisers anticipate that the event will take place in Building 65, Avenue Campus, Highfield Road, Southampton, SO17 1BF, and that

The organisers will be able to provide a hearing loop if it is required.
The organisers will be able to permit service animals to attend.
The venue will be wheelchair accessible.
The venue will have nearby accessible toilets.
The organisers will be able to provide a quiet room if it is required.
The venue will have available seating.
There will be nearby parking to all venues.
There will be at least a 15 minute break between each 70 minute session.
The organisers will be able to permit written, rather than spoken, questions during discussion.
Accessibility information about the building (Building 65) can be found here: https://www.accessable.co.uk/venues/building-65-parkes