The Scottish Aesthetics Forum

Clotilde (Clo) is an Associate Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of St Andrews. Her research interests include the philosophy of film, particularly the question of medium spcificity, experimental aesthetics, social aesthetics, such as the nature of aesthetic peerhood, as well as metaphilosophical issues related to the diversity and inclusivity of the discipline. 

Tom is an Associate Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of St Andrews.  His research interests include the so-called ‘lower-senses’ (e.g. smell, taste, and touch) and their relevance to our aesthetic appreciation of art and non-art artefacts, moral learning from interactive fiction, the reliability of aesthetic introspection, and whether the marginalisation of certain aesthetic practices amounts to an (aesthetic) injustice.

Lisa is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of St Andrews. Her research interests include the philosophy of literature, and of fiction, particularly with respect to their cognitive and moral value. She has also worked on appropriation and copying within art, and – more recently – on the aesthetic aspects of pro-wrestling.

Stacie Friend is a Reader in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. She is the President of the British Society of Aesthetics and previously helped to organise the London Aesthetics Forum. Her research focuses on issues at the intersection of aesthetics, language and mind, especially in relation to our engagement with fictional narratives. In studying this engagement, she has collaborated with researchers in other disciplines, most recently as Director of the project ‘Art Opening Minds: Imagination and Perspective in Film’, funded by the Templeton Religion Trust.

Pat is a PhD student at the University of Glasgow. Their research interests include virtue theoretical approaches to understanding aesthetic value and justifying aesthetic judgments, engagement, aesthetic blameworthiness, the unity of virtues, and the philosophy of film where it intersects with sociology in the shaping of identities, the reinforcing or dispelling of cultural narratives, and the creation of alternative public spaces.

Jodi is currently completing her PhD at the University of Glasgow. Her research interests include the work of Susanne K. Langer, particularly her theory of expression and re-examining it in a contemporary art context, the philosophy of music, and expression within artistic practice and in experimental and improvisational works of art.