Pleasure from Aesthetics to Ethics: An Interdisciplinary Exploration

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Special Session

Organizer Name

Jessica Rosenfeld, Severin Kitanov

Organizer Affiliation

Washington Univ. in St. Louis, Salem State Univ.

Presider Name

Jessica Rosenfeld

Paper Title 1

What Is Pleasure? Interpreting Aristotle in Medieval Latin Commentaries on the Nicomachean Ethics

Presenter 1 Name

Severin Kitanov

Paper Title 2

The Pleasure of Metaphor

Presenter 2 Name

Michelle Karnes

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Stanford Univ.

Paper Title 3

The Role of Pleasure in Aquinas's Theories of Beauty and Ethics

Presenter 3 Name

C. Scott Sevier

Presenter 3 Affiliation

College of Southern Nevada

Paper Title 4

Pleasurable Forms and Forms of Pleasure in the Pages of the Pearl Manuscript

Presenter 4 Name

Arthur Bahr

Presenter 4 Affiliation

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Start Date

16-5-2015 10:00 AM

Session Location

Bernhard 205

Description

This panel brings together scholars of literature and philosophy, speaking on the theme of pleasure. Papers will address medieval understandings of pleasure in ethical, aesthetic, and logical terms. They will also consider the vexed role of pleasure at the nexus of ethics and aesthetics. Philosophers considered include Aquinas and Aristotle; literary texts include Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, Pearl, and Cleanness. General topics include beauty, love, cognition, happiness, form, and manuscript study.

Jessica Rosenfeld