Ronald Moore
Philosophy, University of Washington
Tuesday, April 1st
3:15-4:45
Arnold Hall
Jewish Studies Center
(corner of Glebe and Wentworth)
Reception to follow at 14 Glebe Street
About the talk
Modern-day philosophic reflection on natural beauty is dominated by three dogmas. First, that our appreciation of natural objects must be guided by categories supplied by natural science. Second, that aesthetic regard for nature is altogether independent of aesthetic regard for art. And third, that imagination should play no role in judgments of natural beauty because it is inherently unbounded and unreliable. I believe all three dogmas are mistaken. I will argue that proper appreciation of natural objects often requires departure from scientific categories, that natural and artistic aesthetics can be mutually reinforcing, and that imagination supplies important components in appropriate appreciation of natural beauty. Moreover, I will argue that imagination's role in natural beauty judgments provides a key element in the process whereby we become both aesthetic and moral adults.
Seminar meeting
Join Professor Moore in his meeting with the Senior Philosophy Seminar on Natural Beauty, Monday, March 31st from 3:20-4:35 in Maybank 206.
**Sponsored by the Philosophy Department**
*Co-Sponsored by the Environmental Studies Minor and the Masters in Environmental Studies Programs*
About the speaker
Ron Moore is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Washington. He did his undergraduate work at Stanford and received his Ph.D. from Columbia. His honors include a fellowship at Harvard, the University of Washington’s Distinguished Teaching Award, and an award for Leadership in Minority Education. His passion for gardening is directed at “growing things in Seattle that God did not intend to grow there.” He has published four books and numerous papers, including articles in Ethics, the UCLA Law Review, and the Journal of Aesthetic Education. His books include: Legal Norms and Legal Science, an edited volume on Aesthetics for Young People, and his 2007 book Natural Beauty. A reviewer in the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism says this about Professor Moore’s new book: “[This] book draws its central ideas from the history of philosophy, from Plato and Aristotle through Hume and Kant to Dewey and Beardsley. Moore has engaged in conversation nearly every major Western philosopher on beauty in the writing of his book. The result is a tour de force on beauty that captures the best of the canon and thrusts research on the subject in a new direction. Natural Beauty may be the most important book on beauty since Kant's Critique of Judgment.”