Aesthetics and Morality: Thomistic and Contemporary Philosophical Approaches

The Thomistic Seminar is the Witherspoon Institute's fifth-annual,
week-long, intensive program for graduate students in philosophy. The
seminar is devoted to exploring the intersection between analytic
philosophy and the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition.

This year's seminar, entitled "Aesthetics and Morality: Thomistic and
Contemporary Philosophical Approaches," will examine the relationship
between aesthetics and morality, particularly with respect to the
social aspects of human life. It will take place August 15 - 21, 2010
in Princeton, New Jersey.

Recent years have seen intense philosophical work on the nature and
content of morality; addressing issues in normative ethics, moral
theory and metaethics. There has also been a growth of serious work on
nature and value of the arts, and on the role of the aesthetic as a
constituent of human well-being. The seminar will draw together some
of these themes and issues, bringing to bear both contemporary ideas
and aspects of the theories of value and practice to be found in the
writings of Aquinas.

It has been increasingly common to see Aquinas cited or discussed by
contemporary moral philosophers outside the Thomistic tradition, such
as Philippa Foot, Alasdair MacIntyre, John Rawls, Thomas Scanlon,
Michael Thompson, and David Wiggins, but to date aestheticians in the
analytical tradition have neglected ideas and figures from the pre-
Kantian period. Yet there is in Aquinas the makings of theories of
beauty, art and normative aesthetics that are of intrinsic interest
and which also suggest ways in which aesthetics and ethics might be
interwoven in a general account of value and practice, both personal
and social.

Faculty

John Haldane, Professor of Philosophy, University of St. Andrews
Thomas Hibbs, Professor of Ethics and Culture, Baylor University
Anthony O'Hear, Professor of Philosophy, University of Buckingham
Candace Vogler, Professor of Philosophy, University of Chicago

Past student participants in the seminar have hailed from top-tier
graduate philosophy programs in North America and Europe. Past faculty
participants have included Nicholas Rescher (Pittsburgh), Michael
Gorman (Catholic University), John Haldane (St. Andrews), Candace
Vogler (Chicago), John O'Callaghan (Notre Dame), Robert Koons (UT,
Austin), Gavin Lawrence (UCLA), Mark Murphy (Georgetown), David
Solomon (Notre Dame), Alexander Pruss (Baylor), David Oderberg
(Reading), Gyula Klima (Fordham), Anselm Mueller (Trier), Jeff
McDonough (Harvard) and Thomas Pink (King's College, London).

Seminar Participants

This seminar is open to graduate students in philosophy. Applications
from students in other disciplines (e.g. theology, political theory,
and art history), who nonetheless have a background in philosophy,
will also be considered.

Seminar Facilities

This seminar will take place on the campus of the Princeton
Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. Seminar participants
will be provided with room and board for the duration of the seminar.

Visit http://www.winst.org/ethics_and_university/seminars/philosophy/index.php
for application information. The application deadline has been
extended to April 15, 2010.