Debates in Aesthetics is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal for articles, interviews and book reviews. Published by the British Society of Aesthetics, the journal’s principal aim is to provide the philosophical community with a dedicated venue for debate in aesthetics and the philosophy of art.
An open-access journal for articles, interviews and book reviews
Volume 18 No 1
In this issue there are three original articles, two of which examine issues related to metaphor as understood by Donald Davidson (Cavazzana) and Conceptual Metaphor Theorists and Gestalt Psychologists (Verstegen), while another examines how appreciative behaviour comes to be associated with different categories of art (Sen). There is also an interview with poet Ralf Webb, where he discusses his debut collection Rotten Days in Late Summer and the relationship between authors and readers (Wallbank), and a review of the recently published Looking Through Images: A Phenomenology of Visual Media examining how Emanuel Alloa answers the question “what is an image?” (Charalabidou).
Table of Contents
- EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION
Sarah Kiernan and Claire Anscomb
Read Online | Download Pdf - THE DREAMWORK OF LANGUAGE: DONALD DAVIDSON BETWEEN METAPHOR AND MEANING
Alessandro Cavazzana
Read Online | Download Pdf - AN INSTITUTIONAL THEORY OF ART CATEGORIES
Kiyohiro Sen
Read Online | Download Pdf - IS LAKOFF ARNHEIMIAN
Ian Verstegen
Read Online | Download Pdf - TRUST, POETIC APPROPRIATION AND POETIC GHOSTS: AN INTERVIEW WITH RALPH WEBB
Rebecca Wallbank
Read Online | Download Pdf - LOOKING THROUGH IMAGES: A PHENOMENOLOGY OF VISUAL MEDIA, BY EMMANUEL ALLOA
Fotini Charalabidou
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Volume 17 No 2
In this special issue devoted to the Sixth British Society of Aesthetics Postgraduate Conference, there are two original articles exploring the themes of the conference: issues in aesthetics related to nature and technology. One article seeks an understanding of our aesthetic constitution through an examination of the relationship between human and nature (Parente), while the other explores how non-human-like prostheses affect readings of disability in the context of visual art (Montalti). There is also an interview where Laura Partin discusses the notion of deception in contemporary art with the artist Santiago Sierra.
Table of Contents
- EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION
Sarah Kiernan and Claire Anscomb
Read Online | Download Pdf - LISA BUFANO AND AIMEE MULLINS: DISABILITY AND THE AESTHETIC OF NON-HUMAN-LIKE PROSTHESES
Chiara Montalti
Read Online | Download Pdf - ART, ARTEFACT AND NATURE IN GILLO DORFLES’S WORK. FOR AN UNDERSTANDING OF OUR AESTHETIC CONSTITUTION
Filomena Parente
Read Online | Download Pdf - “FOR A BRUTAL REALITY I NEED A BRUTAL LANGUAGE”. DECEPTION IN CONTEMPORARY ART FROM THE ARTIST’S PERSPECTIVE: INTERVIEW WITH SANTIAGO SIERRA
Laura Partin
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Volume 17 No 1
In this general issue there are three original articles that explore a multitude of topics including: the nature of architectural value; whether there can be authorless works of fiction; and the relation between light art and somaesthetic experience. There is also an interview with Rafe McGregor, where he discusses his recent book, Narrative Justice.
Table of Contents
- EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION
Sarah Kiernan and Claire Anscomb
Read Online | Download Pdf - ARCHITECTURAL VALUE AND THE ARTISTIC VALUE OF ARCHITECTURE
Harry Drummond
* Winner of Debates in Aesthetics Essay Prize 2021 *
Read Online | Download Pdf - TRUTH IN FICTION & NATURAL STORIES: ABOUT AN ARGUMENT
Guillaume Schuppert
Read Online | Download Pdf - THE CONTEMPLATIVE WALKING IN LIGHT: SOMAESTHETIC EXPERIENCE IN THE PROJECTS OF ANN VERONICA JANSSENS AND OLAFUR ELIASSON
Marta Risco Ruiz
Read Online | Download Pdf - AESTHETIC EDUCATION VIA NARRATIVE REPRESENTATION: AN INTERVIEW WITH RAFE MCGREGOR
Matija Rajter
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Volume 16 No 1
In this general issue there are three original articles that range in topic from the ethics and aesthetics of the ‘body positivity’ movement, what it means to read literature as literature, and Kant’s theory of laughter. There is also a book review examining whether the title of the recently published volume, Philosophy and Film: Bridging Divides, delivers on its promise.
Table of Contents
- INTRODUCTION
Claire Anscomb & Eleen M Deprez
Read Online | Download Pdf - FORGETTING FATNESS: THE VIOLENT CO-OPTATION OF THE BODY POSITIVITY MOVEMENT
Cheryl Frazier and Nadi Mehdi
Read Online | Download Pdf - FICTION, POETRY AND TRANSLATION: A CRITIQUE OF OPACITY
Eliza Ives
Read Online | Download Pdf - KANT’S THEORY OF LAUGHTER
Mojca Kuplen
Read Online | Download Pdf - PHILOSOPHY AND FILM: BRIDGING DIVIDES
Britt Harrison
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Volume 15 No 2
For this special issue Paul C. Taylor wrote a target article to which the philosophical community was invited to respond. Taylor’s article, ‘Black Reconstruction in Aesthetics’, can be seen as an extension of his earlier work, notably Black is Beautiful (2016) which was awarded the ASA monograph prize in 2017. The new issue includes Taylor’s article, responses by Joshua M. Hall, James Haile III, Falguni A. Sheth, and Rossen Ventzislavov, and a reply to these authors by Taylor. The issue is available to read and download on the Debates in Aesthetics website.

Table of Contents
- INTRODUCTION
Claire Anscomb & Eleen M Deprez
Read Online | Download Pdf - BLACK RECONSTRUCTION IN AESTHETICS
Paul C. Taylor
Read Online | Download Pdf - SOUTHERN BLACK WOMEN’S CANEBRAKE GARDENS, RESPONDING TO TAYLOR’S CALL FOR AESTHETIC RECONSTRUCTION
Joshua M. Hall
Read Online | Download Pdf - BLACK “RECONSTRUCTION”; OR THE AFROCENTRIC HOME REPAIR MANUAL PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTIONS ON PAUL C. TAYLOR’S “BLACK RECONSTRUCTION IN AESTHETICS”
James Haile III
Read Online | Download Pdf - RECONSTRUCTION OR DECOLONISATION?
PAUL TAYLOR’S ‘BLACK RECONSTRUCTION IN ETHICS’
Falguni A. Sheth
Read Online | Download Pdf - BLACK AESTHETICS: RECONSTRUCTION THROUGH RESOCIALISATION
Rossen Ventzislavov
Read Online | Download Pdf - DISCIPLINE, DETERMINATION, DISCERNMENT: IN REPLY
Paul C. Taylor
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Volume 15 No 1
In this general issue there are three original articles that range in topic from the use of technology to facilitate sublime experiences, the static-dynamic puzzle of still life works, to the role of authenticity in aesthetic appreciation. We are also happy to present an interview with Terry Diffey, emeritus professor at the University of Sussex and long-standing member of the British Society of Aesthetics.
Table of Contents
- EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION
Claire Anscomb & Eleen M Deprez
Read online | Download Pdf - SENSORY AUGMENTATION AND THE TACTILE SUBLIME
Yorick Berta
* Winner of Debates in Aesthetics Essay Prize 2020 *
Read online | Download Pdf - STILL MOVING
Vanessa Brassey
Read online | Download Pdf - ORIGINALISM AND ANTI-ORIGINALISM: STYLE AND AUTHENTICITY IN AESTHETIC APPRECIATION
Lisa Giombini
Read online | Download Pdf - TERRY DIFFEY: A PHILOSOPHICAL LIFE
Jeffrey Petts
Read online | Download Pdf - NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
Read online | Download Pdf

Volume 14
This issue contains four articles that seek to challenge or develop aspects of the work of Jenefer Robinson, including her views on issues such as the paradox of fiction, pictorial expression, the nature of the emotions, and the centrality of the emotions for understanding certain works of art, along with a response from Robinson. It also features a short piece by Hans Maes in which he develops an account of the importance of doing philosophy in conversation, and appositely, an interview with Murray Smith in which he discusses his commitment to the naturalistic enterprise in aesthetics and the philosophy of art in conversation with Angelo Cioffi.
Volume 13
This first issue of Debates in Aesthetics is concerned with the work of Stephen Davies; and, perhaps unsurprisingly given Davies’ prodigious interest in music, all three of the commentaries contained within this issue focus on his contributions to debates in the philosophy of music.