Guide to Graduate Study in Aesthetics
The American Society for Aesthetics (ASA) has released the fourth edition of its Guide to Graduate Aesthetics in North America.
The guide provides information on the general philosophical orientation of the included departments, as well as list of their faculty working in aesthetics. It includes PhD and MA programs.
The guide was edited by Dominic McIver Lopes (UBC) and Julie Van Camp (CSU Long Beach), who, in the introduction to the guide, write:
This Guide has been compiled for students who are interested in pursuing graduate studies in philosophy with an expertise or competence in aesthetics or the philosophy of art…
The data for this edition of the Guide were collected in 2016 using a survey sent to every North American graduate philosophy department. Each department was asked to identify the graduate aesthetics courses it offers, any teaching opportunities for graduate students in aesthetics courses, and the names and interests of faculty capable of supervising students in aesthetics. Fifty-three departments replied and are represented in the Guide.
The information in this Guide has been reported by the departments themselves. It should not be understood to have been endorsed by the ASA, nor should it form the sole basis for selecting a graduate program.
The guide is available here.
It looks useful. I’m surprised not to see Brown included, though. That seems like a major absence. It also seemed somewhat odd to not have Amie Thomasson listed in the U. Miami faculty working on aesthetics, as she’s the main person I would have thought of there. Still, a good resource.
Well, remember that inclusion is based on a department’s self-reporting. Departments haven’t always met the deadline for the guide, although the editors are sometimes kind enough to update the guide with late additions when the departments in question submit their surveys..
As far as Thomasson is concerned… yeah, it’s a little weird that she’s not included, but perhaps she’s shifted her research and supervision so that she’s mostly only doing metaphysics more generally now? (Just a guess as to what might explain the absence. I have no idea.)