beauty changes everything
As the founder of Artful Banyan Tree, Bella Zhang stands as a pioneering force in the convergence of art and well-being promotion. With degrees in Psychology from the University of Edinburgh and Business Psychology from Hochschule für Medien, Kommunikation und Wirtschaft, Bella combines academic excellence with creative innovation. Bella, a certified Expressive Arts Facilitator, employs … Continue reading Bringing Beauty to Business: An Interview with Bella Zhang
I connected recently with Margaret Ferguson on Twitter, and what caught my eye was her mentioning her interest in applied aesthetics. Beginning her career as a cosmetologist, she turned to philosophical aesthetics, and this is her story. Guest post by Margaret Ferguson: When I was in middle school in 2002, I moved to Henderson, … Continue reading From Cosmetology to Philosophy
Guest post by P. Winston Fettner Cuteness, it seems, is more important than it's been given credit for. It's place in evolutionary aesthetics is essential, not only for its role in developing Darwinian and empirical approaches to aesthetics, but also in the application of evolutionary aesthetics to ethics, even suggesting a contribution to the ethics … Continue reading On Cuteness
Guest Post by Scott Lepisto The ancient Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger doesn’t just aim to teach his readers: he aims to transform them. Wonder at the beauty and mystery of the natural world plays a significant role in Seneca’s transformational program. He devotes less effort to explaining his aesthetic theory than to offering … Continue reading Dissolving the Ego: Aesthetics and Individuality in Senecan Philosophy
Guest post by Venkat Ramanan The adjective “ineffable” appears to be used mostly in relation to either (a) a spiritual/mystical experience or (b) when we appreciate a work of visual or plastic art. Here are some examples of (a) - The British writer Karen Armstrong described Laozi (the Chinese philosopher from the 6th century BCE) … Continue reading Aesthetic Ineffability and the Rebirth of the Reader
Guest post by Meredith Drees In 1959 Iris Murdoch wrote “The Sublime and The Good,”[1] in order to sketch a “definition [of art] through a consideration and criticism of Kant’s” (S&G, 43). Murdoch’s general view of aesthetics is strongly influenced by Kant’s, but she argues that his theory must be rejected because it “fails to … Continue reading Tragic Freedom: Murdoch on the Sublime
Guest post by Meredith Drees In Kant’s Critique of Judgment, he states that “sublime is what even to be able to think proves that the mind has a power surpassing any standard of sense” (25:250). [1] My aim in this essay is to argue that experiences of sublimity give us a glimpse of morality and … Continue reading Sublimity as a Symbol of Moral Dignity
Guest Post by Venkat Ramanan While held prisoner in Auschwitz, the Italian writer Primo Levi, in an effort to keep himself anchored, tried to recall all the cantos of Dante’s The Divine Comedy and explicate its intricacies to his fellow inmates. There were, naturally, gaps in Levi’s memory. He got frustrated with this lapse and … Continue reading 'Vivaldi for Gorillas': Seeking Aesthetics in Adversity