Ethics and Aesthetics of Architecture and the Environment Conference July 2012
Location: Culture Lab
Time/Date: 11th July 2012 - 13th July 2012, 09:00 - 17:00
The International Society for the Philosophy of Architecture (ISPA) is hosting a conference with support from the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at Newcastle University, UK. The conference hosted on campus at Newcastle University will take place from 11th - 13th July 2012.
This conference calls for both philosophers and architects to grapple with questions regarding the ethical and aesthetic qualities of architecture, the hope is to propel the discourse beyond the limitations of a purely visual understanding of the architectural experiences. Invited keynote speakers include: Andrew Ballantyne, Newcastle University, UK; David Leatherbarrow, University of Pennsylvania, USA; Paul Guyer, University of Pennsylvania, USA; Tom Spector, Oklahoma State University, USA; Emily Brady, University of Edinburgh, UK; Simon James, Durham University, UK and Ian Ground, Sunderland University, UK.
Main Strand
The subject of aesthetics is often taken as dealing with questions of mere beauty, where the word ‘aesthetic’ is colloquially interchangeable with beauty and liking. Someone might, for instance, explain their liking the look of a particular object on the basis of its ‘aesthetics’. Interestingly, even within the specialised architecture discourse, the aesthetic is largely discussed on the basis of an object’s appearance. Yet, the aesthetic is not limited and should not be limited merely to the way things look. Any philosophically informed aesthetician will contest this limited view, saying something along the lines of ‘the aesthetic is everything’. The aim of this conference is therefore in part to address this discursive limitation in architecture and related subjects by broadening the aesthetic discourse beyond questions relating to purely visual phenomena in order to include those derived from all facets of human experience.
In taking on the aesthetic in a manner that pushes its considerations beyond the realm of mere beauty, questions of ethics often arise. Indeed Wittgenstein is quoted as saying, “ethics and aesthetics are one and the same” (1921: §6.421). Questions as to why, for instance a building’s form takes the shape it does raises not only conventional aesthetic questions but also questions about what purpose or meaning the building serves beyond purely visual stimulation. Does the form for instance relate somehow to a social ideal or economic ideal? And if so, is this ideal something that its inhabitants subscribe to or are even aware of? In an effort to draw thinkers’ attention to the ethical role architecture plays as well as the ethical function architects play, the second part of this conference call addresses this often overlooked dimension of architecture.
References: Wittgenstein, L. (1921) Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Abdington: Routledge.
Landscape and Environment Strand
Philosophical aesthetics has traditionally been more concerned with the judgement of artworks and the experience of art than with the natural beauty or the qualities of designed landscapes – or the sorts of experiences which such places might provide. Similarly, traditional ethics assigned intrinsic value and moral standing to humans alone and seemed incapable of addressing the harm which humans were capable of doing to the environment.
Since the eighteenth century, landscape theory has revolved around the aesthetic notions of the Beautiful, the Sublime and the Picturesque (though a philosopher recently suggested that we might fruitfully pay attention to the new aesthetic categories of the Ugly, the Inauthentic and the Banal). Are these eighteenth-century notions redundant, or do they still have a place in twenty-first century design theory? What is their relation to environmental values such as species diversity, ecological integrity and sustainability?
The designers, planners and managers of places work under the imperative to act. What values do they mobilise when they seek to create or maintain ‘good places’? In creating places which are aesthetically pleasing can they also create places which are healthy, sociable, democratic, sustainable and socially just?
Please visit our conference website for further details and key deadline dates.
You can register for this conference using our online registration portal.
Published: 28th February 2011