Colloquium (Susan Wolf, UNC Chapel Hill)

Susan Wolf is Edna J. Koury Distinguished Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Prof. Wolf’s research focuses on ethics and its close relations to philosophy of action, philosophy of mind, aesthetics, and political philosophy. Her interests range widely over value theory, moral psychology, and normative ethics.

Talk Title: “Aesthetic Responsibility”

Talk Abstract: Philosophers often suggest that the fact that we are morally responsible is an important mark of our distinctive humanity. But people are responsible for much more than the moral qualities of their actions. Artists, for example, are typically aesthetically responsible for the qualities of their artistic creations. The talk will discuss similarities and differences between aesthetic and moral responsibility and speculate on what a consideration of aesthetic responsibility tells us about both responsibility and humanity.