Aesthetics Reading Group (John Dyck, Misssissippi State University)

The Aesthetics Reading Group is delighted to welcome as guest speaker John Dyck, assistant professor emeritus in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Mississippi State University.

Talk Title

The Veracity of Beauty and the Ambition of Realism

Talk Abstract

Some have said that the beauty of some things (perhaps all things) consists in their very reality. The sense in which something is beautiful is precisely the sense in which it is real. This view declares the veracity of beauty. While such a view may seem old fashioned, I argue here that it offers crucial insights for the contemporary pursuit to understand beauty and aesthetic value in general. This view explains what we might call ambitions of realism that abound in art criticism and in our own appreciative logic: recurring praise for what is real or true. Despite its grand historical precedent, many contemporary philosophers may be wary of such a view, especially given its ties with metaphysically suspect views like Neoplatonism. To calm the metaphysically skittish, I present a version of the view that avoids not only extravagant Neoplatonist commitments but also naïve assumptions about easy epistemic access to reality. Along the way, I consider what it would mean for reality to ever constitute beauty, as it must if this view is to have a fighting chance.