The Geography of Taste: A Workshop on the Diversity of Aesthetic Cultures

Aesthetic cultures diverge in taste. What is considered beautiful in Chinese opera is different from the music that excites the ear of devotees of traditional Karnatak music, and both are very different from hip-hop or rock and roll. Similar differences of taste prevail in poetry, visual art, dance, and architecture. Explaining this diversity stretches the resources of classical philosophical aesthetics. In this workshop, four philosophers offer their views on aesthetic diversity and three prominent scholars from outside philosophy comment. The format emphasizes the non-philosophers. The workshop begins with a summary presentation by the philosophers and then shifts to longer remarks by the non-philosophers, who will use the philosophers’ views as a springboard for further discussion.

This workshop is generously sponsored by the Jackman Humanities Institute at the University of Toronto.