Ethics and Aesthetics: From Pragmatism to Somaesthetics and the Art of Living
Thursday, 16 October 2025, 16:30-18:30
Senate House, Room 264
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Ethics and aesthetics are often sharply distinguished and sometimes even opposed as rival realms of value. The apparent conflict between them is discomforting for artists and theorists who seek to combine aesthetical and ethical aims in their work. My talk seeks to ease this theoretical tension in two principal ways. First, through a genealogical analysis of the complexity of our concepts of ethics and aesthetics, I argue that, in some of their important conceptions, they display considerable convergence. Here I appeal both to classical Western and Asian theories of ethics and aesthetics. Second, I show how notions of ethics and aesthetics converge in pragmatism’s somaesthetic notion of the art of living in which the soma is not only the medium of life but also the crucial site of experiential learning, ethical exploration, and creative action. Here I explore how somaesthetically inspired performance art can contribute to this critical work on the self by considering the case of the Man in Gold, the philosopher without words, who probes the conventional constraints of personal identity while confronting the limits of philosophy as a wholly linguistic enterprise.
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Following NHS guidance, all attendees are strongly encouraged to be vaccinated (including boosters) against Covid-19, unless medically exempt. Our group is diverse; please continue to be considerate of those who wear face coverings and those who don’t. Thank you.