Congratulations to Thomas Baker who has successfully completed his PhD in Philosophy and will be awarded at the next University graduation ceremonies.
Thomas has been focussing his research on the intersection of philosophical aesthetics and philosophy of mind, and incorporates empirical literature on perception, introspection and interoception, empathy, and the psychophysical mechanisms involved in our engagement with artworks.
His thesis defends the view that various traditionally rejected, ignored, and undervalued types of responses are relevant to our aesthetic appreciation of art and non-art artefacts. It argues, first, for expanding the traditionally conceived limits of aesthetic experience to include contagious emotional, physiological, olfactory and gustatory experience; and, second, for expanding the traditionally conceived limits of aesthetic things to include non-traditional art, such as art-beer, and everyday artefacts and experiences. More generally, it defends a view of aesthetic experience as characterised by a higher mode of attention which incorporates embodied, lower-sense perception and bodily self-awareness.
Posted on Monday 2nd November 2015