Conference on Hegel's Aesthetics: Hegel on Art as Social Practice

Organized by Department Chair Sally Sedgwick and Professor Allen Speight. Speakers: Georg Bertram (Berlin), Dina Emundts (Berlin), Stephen Houlgate (Warwick), Thomas Khurana (Potsdam), Lydia Moland (Colby), Allen Speight (BU) and Samantha Matherne (Harvard). Commentators: Rachel Zuckert (Northwestern), Ingvild Torsen (Oslo), Julia Peters (Tübingen), and others (TBD). Description: In his philosophy of art, Hegel has much to say about various ways in which art is imbedded in forms of social life. He ties art forms and their development to historically locatable social constellations, constellations that in turn bear the marks of those art forms. He links shared as well as distinguishing features of societies to specific structural artistic practices, and he analyzes those practices – for instance, with the help of his distinction between classical and romantic art forms. Among the questions we will be considering during this conference: How should we understand the social dimension of art in Hegelian terms? In what way is art fundamentally a social practice, in Hegel’s view, and how does it actually shape social structures? How does the social practice of art contribute to our self-understanding?