Sinister, Somber, Serene: The Aesthetic of Places & The Normative Landscape

In this talk, I explore ways that the aesthetic character of places (inviting, strange, threatening, familiar, comforting, creepy, seedy, sinister, somber, serene, etc.) can impact moral, prudential, and political norms that operate in those spaces. This will in turn lead to questions about how we should approach our power to shape the aesthetic character of places.

Erich Matthes
https://www.wellesley.edu/people/erich-matthes
Professor
Department of Philosophy
Wellesley College

About the Speaker:

My primary research interests concern the ethics, politics, and aesthetics of cultural heritage, art, and the environment. I have published papers on topics including repatriation, historic preservation, landscape art, cultural appropriation, irreplaceability, authenticity, place-loss due to climate change, and the value of history and heritage. My second book, What to Save and Why: Identity, Authenticity, and the Ethics of Conservation was published by Oxford University Press in September 2024. It's about the ethics of conserving and preserving things, from heirlooms to artworks, traditions to landscapes.

I've also written about the problem of immoral artists: what should we do, think, and feel when artists whom we love do or say objectionable things? My first book, Drawing the Line: What to Do with the Work of Immoral Artists from Museums to the Movies, tackles these questions, and was published by Oxford University Press in 2022.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This is a talk with audience Q&A presented by the University of Toronto's Centre for Ethics that is free to attend and open to the public. Free pizza and refreshments will be provided at the event. The talk will also be streamed online with live chat here [to be posted].

About the Centre for Ethics (http://ethics.utoronto.ca):

The Centre for Ethics is an interdisciplinary centre aimed at advancing research and teaching in the field of ethics, broadly defined. The Centre seeks to bring together the theoretical and practical knowledge of diverse scholars, students, public servants and social leaders in order to increase understanding of the ethical dimensions of individual, social, and political life.

In pursuit of its interdisciplinary mission, the Centre fosters lines of inquiry such as (1) foundations of ethics, which encompasses the history of ethics and core concepts in the philosophical study of ethics; (2) ethics in action, which relates theory to practice in key domains of social life, including bioethics, business ethics, and ethics in the public sphere; and (3) ethics in translation, which draws upon the rich multiculturalism of the City of Toronto and addresses the ethics of multicultural societies, ethical discourse across religious and cultural boundaries, and the ethics of international society.

The Ethics of A.I. Lab at the Centre For Ethics recently appeared on a list of 10 organizations leading the way in ethical A.I.: https://ocean.sagepub.com/blog/10-organizations-leading-the-way-in-ethical-ai