Home » Event » The New Philosophy of Photography

The New Philosophy of Photography

13-14 February 2015, 09:30 – 18:30

A collaboration between the London Aesthetics Forum and the Centre for
Research in Philosophy, Literature and the Arts at the University of Warwick.

Hosted by the Institute for Philosophy, London: Fri 13- Sat 14 February 2015, Room 349 Senate House, Malet Street WC1

This event is made possible by funding from the British Society of Aesthetics.

Speakers
Paloma Atencia-Linares, Lecturer in Philosophy & History of Art, University of Kent; Laure Blanc-Benon, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Université Paris-Sorbonne; Diarmuid Costello, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Warwick; Dominic McIver Lopes, Distinguished University Scholar & Professor of Philosophy, University of British Columbia; Bence Nanay, Professor of Philosophy and BOF Research Professor, Centre for Philosophical Psychology, University of Antwerp; Charles Palermo, Associate Professor of Art History and Director of Film and Media Studies, College of William and Mary; Martin Seel, Professor für Philosophie, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main; Dawn M Wilson, Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Hull.

This workshop brings together philosophers and theorists from the UK, USA, Canada, France, Belgium and Germany to discuss recent developments in the philosophy of photography. Over the last few years, philosophers have belatedly begun to consider the challenge that artists’ use of photography may present for standard philosophical conceptions of photography as a ‘purely causal’ process ensuring ‘belief independent feature tracking’ or ‘natural counter-factual dependence’ of photographs on what they are photographs of. These challenges can no longer be accommodated by ad hoc extensions to existing theories, or by treating artistic uses of photography as a special case. Moreover, it is not only philosophy that is implicated by taking photographic art seriously: such core art theoretical notions as ‘indexicality’ are similarly put into question. This workshop considers philosophers’ attempts to address such problems to date, and asks whether a fundamental re-conception of the field is now required.

Attendance is free but requires advance registration. Please do so at: http://www.londonaestheticsforum.org

Provisional programme

Friday 13 February:

9.30-10.00: Tea & Coffee
10.00 Welcome
10.10-11.40: Diarmuid Costello, ‘What’s So New about the “New” Philosophy of
Photography?’
11.40-1.10: Dominic McIver Lopes, ‘Abstract Photography’
1.10-2.30: Lunch (own arrangements for non-speakers)
2.30-4.00: Laure Blanc-Benon, ‘Black & White versus Colour: An Issue for the
Philosophy of Photography’
4-4.30: Tea & Coffee
Speaker 4.30-6.00: Bence Nanay, ‘Two-Dimensional versus Three-Dimensional
Pictorial Organization in Photographs’

Saturday 14 February:

9.30-10.00: Tea & Coffee
10-11.30: Dawn M. Wilson, ‘Composing, Conducting, Performing, Improvising
and Sampling: Photographers Creating Art’
11.30-1.00: Paloma Atencia Linares, ‘Photographic Communication beyond Grice’
1.00-2.00: Lunch (own arrangements for non-speakers)
2.00-3.30: Charles Palermo, ‘Standing a Round: Photography, Agency and Money’
3.30-4: Tea & Coffee
4.00-5.30: Martin Seel, ‘Three Pairs of Pictures (and an Encore)’
5.30-6.30: Concluding roundtable

Supported by British Society of Aesthetics.