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British Journal of Aesthetics

@britjaesth

The BJA is a quarterly journal and among the world's leading venues for philosophical aesthetics. It is run by the British Society of Aesthetics and published by OUP.

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Applications must include a philosophical component. Applicants must be current, paid-up members of the Society. All events applied for must be held in the UK or Europe.

Apply here: british-aesthetics.org/portfolio/sm...

11.03.2026 12:01 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Are you looking to fund an activity in aesthetics or the philosophy of art? Then apply for the BSA small grant until 1 April!

The BSA gives several small grants of up to £4,000 in support of activities including workshops, lecture series or the creation of podcasts and videos – be creative! 👩‍🎨🧑‍🏫🎥

11.03.2026 12:01 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
[A]rt can be world-mirroring (to paraphrase Landmann-Kalischer) only to the extent that it is also ‘world-creating’: art reflects and teaches us about our ways of being in the world partly by constituting or ‘inventing’ them. […] If art teaches us to see the fogs in our world, it is not by replicating them as they are, not by expressing our existing ways of seeing and looking, as they are ‘in themselves’, as Landmann-Kalischer has it, but, if Oscar Wilde is right, by inventing them[.] - Keren Gorodeisky, The Art of Expressing Selves

[A]rt can be world-mirroring (to paraphrase Landmann-Kalischer) only to the extent that it is also ‘world-creating’: art reflects and teaches us about our ways of being in the world partly by constituting or ‘inventing’ them. […] If art teaches us to see the fogs in our world, it is not by replicating them as they are, not by expressing our existing ways of seeing and looking, as they are ‘in themselves’, as Landmann-Kalischer has it, but, if Oscar Wilde is right, by inventing them[.] - Keren Gorodeisky, The Art of Expressing Selves

Keren Gorodeisky looks at Edith Landmann-Kalischer's work on expression and asks whether art is a mirror to the world or more like one of its factories. doi.org/10.1093/aest... #philsky

09.03.2026 12:37 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Simone is dealing with copyright concerns in cases where works are created by a group of collaborating authors. These issues have become especially pressing as technological advances have opened up new avenues of collaboration, challenging traditional forms of joint authorship. Digital and communication technologies have, for instance, enabled projects such as Wikipedia, which publishes hundreds of articles per day written by an ever-expanding and loosely connected group of contributors who have most likely never met—and likely never will. - Andrea Baldini, Review of Daniela Simone’s Copyright and Collective Authorship: Locating the Authors of Collaborative Work

Simone is dealing with copyright concerns in cases where works are created by a group of collaborating authors. These issues have become especially pressing as technological advances have opened up new avenues of collaboration, challenging traditional forms of joint authorship. Digital and communication technologies have, for instance, enabled projects such as Wikipedia, which publishes hundreds of articles per day written by an ever-expanding and loosely connected group of contributors who have most likely never met—and likely never will. - Andrea Baldini, Review of Daniela Simone’s Copyright and Collective Authorship: Locating the Authors of Collaborative Work

Andrea Baldini reviews Daniela Simone's monograph on copyright and collective authorship in our latest issue. doi.org/10.1093/aest... #philsky

09.03.2026 00:54 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Simone is dealing with copyright concerns in cases where works are created by a group of collaborating authors. These issues have become especially pressing as technological advances have opened up new avenues of collaboration, challenging traditional forms of joint authorship. Digital and communication technologies have, for instance, enabled projects such as Wikipedia, which publishes hundreds of articles per day written by an ever-expanding and loosely connected group of contributors who have most likely never met—and likely never will. - Andrea Baldini, Review of Daniela Simone’s Copyright and Collective Authorship: Locating the Authors of Collaborative Work

Simone is dealing with copyright concerns in cases where works are created by a group of collaborating authors. These issues have become especially pressing as technological advances have opened up new avenues of collaboration, challenging traditional forms of joint authorship. Digital and communication technologies have, for instance, enabled projects such as Wikipedia, which publishes hundreds of articles per day written by an ever-expanding and loosely connected group of contributors who have most likely never met—and likely never will. - Andrea Baldini, Review of Daniela Simone’s Copyright and Collective Authorship: Locating the Authors of Collaborative Work

Andrea Baldini reviews Daniela Simone's monograph on copyright and collective authorship in our latest issue. doi.org/10.1093/aest... #philsky

09.03.2026 00:54 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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The BSA Postdoc Award is open again!

We invite applications for a two-year postdoctoral award in philosophical aesthetics, to the value of £30,000 per year, to start in the Autumn term in 2026. Find out how to apply here: british-aesthetics.org/portfolio/po...

#aesthetics #philosophy #postdoc

04.03.2026 18:36 👍 3 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Postdoctoral Award - The British Society of Aesthetics The British Society for Aesthetics invites applications for a two-year postdoctoral award in philosophical aesthetics, to the value of £30,000 per annum with up to £3,000 additional geographical allow...

British Society of Aesthetics Postdoctoral Award open for applications. If you're qualified, and you fancy a couple of years in St Andrews, maybe drop me a line.
british-aesthetics.org/portfolio/po...

05.03.2026 09:06 👍 3 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0
A silly meme showing a showdown between Hume interpretations personified as people about to duel on a beach.

A silly meme showing a showdown between Hume interpretations personified as people about to duel on a beach.

Mark Windsor challenges Byoungjae Kim's reading of Hume's 'Of the Standard of Taste' in this open access, advance article. doi.org/10.1093/aest... #philsky

06.03.2026 23:14 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
I am not implying that pursuing a ‘correct’ score without serial mistakes is aesthetically incorrect or that a performer could not choose to depart from a written score to pursue a better performance. Instead, my view supports the advocators of Stravinsky’s original arrangement and performers who take Stravinsky’s confirmation as the final verdict about the ‘correct’ score. They listen to what Stravinsky is trying to say through the music, just as we try to figure out what our friends are telling us in our conversation, as we set aside the question of whether they are making mistakes. - Yili Zhou, Why Follow the Score? Aesthetic Normativity in Performing Classical Music and the Genuine Performing Experience

I am not implying that pursuing a ‘correct’ score without serial mistakes is aesthetically incorrect or that a performer could not choose to depart from a written score to pursue a better performance. Instead, my view supports the advocators of Stravinsky’s original arrangement and performers who take Stravinsky’s confirmation as the final verdict about the ‘correct’ score. They listen to what Stravinsky is trying to say through the music, just as we try to figure out what our friends are telling us in our conversation, as we set aside the question of whether they are making mistakes. - Yili Zhou, Why Follow the Score? Aesthetic Normativity in Performing Classical Music and the Genuine Performing Experience

A novel explanation of the normativity of the score-following rule? You'll find one in our latest issue. doi.org/10.1093/aest... #philpapers

20.02.2026 14:07 👍 11 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 1

LAST CHANCE, PEOPLE!

02.03.2026 14:38 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Simoniti’s writing is progressive, summoning artists to use their resources to advocate for social values and make political statements. One may argue that he is too positive in his thinking, but he acknowledges that the spirit of free expression is not carried everywhere equally. He also admits that while it is easy to demonstrate the relevance of politics to art, it is harder to show the relevance of art to politics. At the end of the first chapter, he asks whether art can offer anything that other types of discourse or action cannot, and provides his answers in the later chapters. - Eva Kit Wah Man, Review of Vid Simoniti's Artists Remake the World: A Contemporary Art Manifesto

Simoniti’s writing is progressive, summoning artists to use their resources to advocate for social values and make political statements. One may argue that he is too positive in his thinking, but he acknowledges that the spirit of free expression is not carried everywhere equally. He also admits that while it is easy to demonstrate the relevance of politics to art, it is harder to show the relevance of art to politics. At the end of the first chapter, he asks whether art can offer anything that other types of discourse or action cannot, and provides his answers in the later chapters. - Eva Kit Wah Man, Review of Vid Simoniti's Artists Remake the World: A Contemporary Art Manifesto

Eva Kit Wah Man reviews Vid Simoniti's book on the political potential of art in our latest issue. doi.org/10.1093/aest... #philsky

02.03.2026 12:31 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Most of the authors who discuss whether titles are names are not explicit about how names work, and their claims about how titles function aesthetically are diffuse and difficult to pin down. It is, therefore, hard to assess how well TN represents their views. Let us take TN2 first. All parties agree that titles can have what I characterized as hermeneutic significance. The real question, from my point of view, is whether it is held that titles have aesthetic functions that go beyond the hermeneutic. - Simon J Evnine, Are Titles of Artworks Proper Names of the Artworks They Entitle?

Most of the authors who discuss whether titles are names are not explicit about how names work, and their claims about how titles function aesthetically are diffuse and difficult to pin down. It is, therefore, hard to assess how well TN represents their views. Let us take TN2 first. All parties agree that titles can have what I characterized as hermeneutic significance. The real question, from my point of view, is whether it is held that titles have aesthetic functions that go beyond the hermeneutic. - Simon J Evnine, Are Titles of Artworks Proper Names of the Artworks They Entitle?

What's in a name? Lots, argues Simon Evnine. From our latest issue. #philsky doi.org/10.1093/aest...

27.02.2026 09:20 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Only 5 days left! ⏱️
Submissions for the BSA are open for all areas of philosophical aesthetics until 2 March. And if you are a member of a group traditionally underrepresented in aesthetics, don’t forget to apply for the Horizons Award!

Find the CfP here:
british-aesthetics.org/portfolio/an...

26.02.2026 10:19 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1
[V]inyl and record collecting have aesthetic and social advantages unavailable in immaterial digital formats. These aesthetic advantages are auditory, tactile, and visual, while the social advantages are ethical, political, and cultural. Moreover, vinyl’s aesthetic and social advantages enable a ‘focal relationship’ with recorded music. - Tony Chackal, Record Collecting as a Focal Practice: The Aesthetics and Sociality of Music Formats

[V]inyl and record collecting have aesthetic and social advantages unavailable in immaterial digital formats. These aesthetic advantages are auditory, tactile, and visual, while the social advantages are ethical, political, and cultural. Moreover, vinyl’s aesthetic and social advantages enable a ‘focal relationship’ with recorded music. - Tony Chackal, Record Collecting as a Focal Practice: The Aesthetics and Sociality of Music Formats

*Crackle, pop, crackle...* doi.org/10.1093/aest... #philsky

19.02.2026 14:45 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Sounds like you have a response paper.

25.02.2026 13:05 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
A summary of Malcolm Budd's publications in the BJA.

A summary of Malcolm Budd's publications in the BJA.

The continued list of Malcolm Budd's publications in the BJA.

The continued list of Malcolm Budd's publications in the BJA.

22.02.2026 19:20 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

He rose to the Grote Professorship of Philosophy of Mind and Logic and was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1995. He was widely admired for the rigour, depth, and range of his work, which made him among the best aestheticians of his generation.

22.02.2026 19:20 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

He served for many years as President of the British
Society of Aesthetics, taking over the presidency from Richard Wollheim. Educated in mathematics and philosophy at Jesus College, Cambridge, Budd went on to a distinguished career at University College London.

22.02.2026 19:20 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Malcolm Budd (1941–2026) died on Tuesday, the 17th February. A leading figure in analytic aesthetics, he published fifteen papers in the BJA—alongside many book reviews—several of them now canonical, especially on music, Kant, and the aesthetic appreciation of nature.

22.02.2026 19:20 👍 12 🔁 7 💬 2 📌 0
I am not implying that pursuing a ‘correct’ score without serial mistakes is aesthetically incorrect or that a performer could not choose to depart from a written score to pursue a better performance. Instead, my view supports the advocators of Stravinsky’s original arrangement and performers who take Stravinsky’s confirmation as the final verdict about the ‘correct’ score. They listen to what Stravinsky is trying to say through the music, just as we try to figure out what our friends are telling us in our conversation, as we set aside the question of whether they are making mistakes. - Yili Zhou, Why Follow the Score? Aesthetic Normativity in Performing Classical Music and the Genuine Performing Experience

I am not implying that pursuing a ‘correct’ score without serial mistakes is aesthetically incorrect or that a performer could not choose to depart from a written score to pursue a better performance. Instead, my view supports the advocators of Stravinsky’s original arrangement and performers who take Stravinsky’s confirmation as the final verdict about the ‘correct’ score. They listen to what Stravinsky is trying to say through the music, just as we try to figure out what our friends are telling us in our conversation, as we set aside the question of whether they are making mistakes. - Yili Zhou, Why Follow the Score? Aesthetic Normativity in Performing Classical Music and the Genuine Performing Experience

A novel explanation of the normativity of the score-following rule? You'll find one in our latest issue. doi.org/10.1093/aest... #philpapers

20.02.2026 14:07 👍 11 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 1
[V]inyl and record collecting have aesthetic and social advantages unavailable in immaterial digital formats. These aesthetic advantages are auditory, tactile, and visual, while the social advantages are ethical, political, and cultural. Moreover, vinyl’s aesthetic and social advantages enable a ‘focal relationship’ with recorded music. - Tony Chackal, Record Collecting as a Focal Practice: The Aesthetics and Sociality of Music Formats

[V]inyl and record collecting have aesthetic and social advantages unavailable in immaterial digital formats. These aesthetic advantages are auditory, tactile, and visual, while the social advantages are ethical, political, and cultural. Moreover, vinyl’s aesthetic and social advantages enable a ‘focal relationship’ with recorded music. - Tony Chackal, Record Collecting as a Focal Practice: The Aesthetics and Sociality of Music Formats

*Crackle, pop, crackle...* doi.org/10.1093/aest... #philsky

19.02.2026 14:45 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Consider a painter[…]. There is a kind of attentional fixing of sensation through the activity of applying paint to canvas. By painting what she sees and in doing so closely attending to her sensations, the artist can separate out the affective charges on those sensations from the sensations themselves, and herself as the subject of both. In this way, the artist can be thought of as ‘articulating’ her feeling through her artistic medium. The artistic medium is a vehicle for the emotional ‘thought’, in much the way that a bit of natural language is a vehicle for a propositional thought. - Christopher Prodoehl, Personal and Impersonal Expression

Consider a painter[…]. There is a kind of attentional fixing of sensation through the activity of applying paint to canvas. By painting what she sees and in doing so closely attending to her sensations, the artist can separate out the affective charges on those sensations from the sensations themselves, and herself as the subject of both. In this way, the artist can be thought of as ‘articulating’ her feeling through her artistic medium. The artistic medium is a vehicle for the emotional ‘thought’, in much the way that a bit of natural language is a vehicle for a propositional thought. - Christopher Prodoehl, Personal and Impersonal Expression

To self-express or not self-express as an artist? Christopher Prodoehl has some thoughts in our new issue: doi.org/10.1093/aest... #philsky

13.02.2026 12:38 👍 9 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 1
Consider a painter[…]. There is a kind of attentional fixing of sensation through the activity of applying paint to canvas. By painting what she sees and in doing so closely attending to her sensations, the artist can separate out the affective charges on those sensations from the sensations themselves, and herself as the subject of both. In this way, the artist can be thought of as ‘articulating’ her feeling through her artistic medium. The artistic medium is a vehicle for the emotional ‘thought’, in much the way that a bit of natural language is a vehicle for a propositional thought. - Christopher Prodoehl, Personal and Impersonal Expression

Consider a painter[…]. There is a kind of attentional fixing of sensation through the activity of applying paint to canvas. By painting what she sees and in doing so closely attending to her sensations, the artist can separate out the affective charges on those sensations from the sensations themselves, and herself as the subject of both. In this way, the artist can be thought of as ‘articulating’ her feeling through her artistic medium. The artistic medium is a vehicle for the emotional ‘thought’, in much the way that a bit of natural language is a vehicle for a propositional thought. - Christopher Prodoehl, Personal and Impersonal Expression

To self-express or not self-express as an artist? Christopher Prodoehl has some thoughts in our new issue: doi.org/10.1093/aest... #philsky

13.02.2026 12:38 👍 9 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 1

...and you won't believe President Hans Maes' incredible duck-face.

12.02.2026 07:35 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
[O]ver time, as Chinese thought developed, Xiang acquired a family of philosophical meanings, embedding itself in literature, art, and philosophy. These meanings reflect not only its etymological evolution from a pictographic origin but also its increasing abstraction as a bridge between perception and representation. Through this evolutionary process, Xiang transformed into a concept capable of integrating sensory experiences with philosophical reflection, positioning itself as a dynamic perceptual unit central to both artistic creation and aesthetic appreciation. - Shuting Liao, Xiang 象 as a Dynamic Perceptual Framework: Bridging Sensory Experience and Aesthetic Meaning

[O]ver time, as Chinese thought developed, Xiang acquired a family of philosophical meanings, embedding itself in literature, art, and philosophy. These meanings reflect not only its etymological evolution from a pictographic origin but also its increasing abstraction as a bridge between perception and representation. Through this evolutionary process, Xiang transformed into a concept capable of integrating sensory experiences with philosophical reflection, positioning itself as a dynamic perceptual unit central to both artistic creation and aesthetic appreciation. - Shuting Liao, Xiang 象 as a Dynamic Perceptual Framework: Bridging Sensory Experience and Aesthetic Meaning

In our brand new issue, Shuting Liao looks at the Chinese concept xiang (象) and its significance in philosophical aesthetics. doi-org.ezproxy.its.uu.se/10.1093/aest... #philsky

12.02.2026 07:16 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Explicitness, identifiability, and parasitic sentimentality explain why the kitsch object is not considered high art, and why it has sometimes been described more precisely as a symbol based on an archetype. - Riccardo Carli, ‘Living with the Everyday Kitsch Object: A New Existential Potentiality’

Explicitness, identifiability, and parasitic sentimentality explain why the kitsch object is not considered high art, and why it has sometimes been described more precisely as a symbol based on an archetype. - Riccardo Carli, ‘Living with the Everyday Kitsch Object: A New Existential Potentiality’

We're talking kitsch in our brand new issue and its potential to redeem itself. Open access 🔓. academic.oup.com/bjaesthetics... #philsky

11.02.2026 11:24 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Have a look at this shiny new issue of the BJA! 👇

04.02.2026 10:37 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
BJA, January 2026 cover.

BJA, January 2026 cover.

Riccardo Carli Living with the Everyday Kitsch Object: A New Existential Potentiality   Shuting Liao Xiang 象 as a Dynamic Perceptual Framework: Bridging Sensory Experience and Aesthetic Meaning Christopher Prodoehl Personal and Impersonal Expression   Ellie Jerome Where Ethics and Aesthetics Diverge: Reconsidering the Objection from Creepiness

Riccardo Carli Living with the Everyday Kitsch Object: A New Existential Potentiality   Shuting Liao Xiang 象 as a Dynamic Perceptual Framework: Bridging Sensory Experience and Aesthetic Meaning Christopher Prodoehl Personal and Impersonal Expression   Ellie Jerome Where Ethics and Aesthetics Diverge: Reconsidering the Objection from Creepiness

Tony Chackal Record Collecting as a Focal Practice: The Aesthetics and Sociality of Music Formats   Joshua Kelsall Against Moral-Aesthetic Prescriptivism: Rejecting the Foundations of the Moralism Versus Immoralism Debate Yili Zhou (周奕李) Why Follow the Score? Aesthetic Normativity in Performing Classical Music and the Genuine Performing Experience   Jussi A Saarinen From Period Eye to Niche Eye: Re-situating Renaissance Painting in a Landscape of Affordances

Tony Chackal Record Collecting as a Focal Practice: The Aesthetics and Sociality of Music Formats   Joshua Kelsall Against Moral-Aesthetic Prescriptivism: Rejecting the Foundations of the Moralism Versus Immoralism Debate Yili Zhou (周奕李) Why Follow the Score? Aesthetic Normativity in Performing Classical Music and the Genuine Performing Experience   Jussi A Saarinen From Period Eye to Niche Eye: Re-situating Renaissance Painting in a Landscape of Affordances

Alex Fisher Virtual Reality, Seeing-In, and Twofoldness   Peter Lamarque Poetry, Sound, and Form: A Reply to Eliza Ives   Steven Diggin Ethical Presuppositions in Narrative Art   Simon J Evnine Are Titles of Artworks Proper Names of the Artworks They Entitle?

Alex Fisher Virtual Reality, Seeing-In, and Twofoldness   Peter Lamarque Poetry, Sound, and Form: A Reply to Eliza Ives   Steven Diggin Ethical Presuppositions in Narrative Art   Simon J Evnine Are Titles of Artworks Proper Names of the Artworks They Entitle?

Our new issue is out with not one, not two, but FIVE open access articles 🔓. academic.oup.com/bjaesthetics... #philsky

04.02.2026 13:25 👍 9 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0
BJA, January 2026 cover.

BJA, January 2026 cover.

Riccardo Carli Living with the Everyday Kitsch Object: A New Existential Potentiality   Shuting Liao Xiang 象 as a Dynamic Perceptual Framework: Bridging Sensory Experience and Aesthetic Meaning Christopher Prodoehl Personal and Impersonal Expression   Ellie Jerome Where Ethics and Aesthetics Diverge: Reconsidering the Objection from Creepiness

Riccardo Carli Living with the Everyday Kitsch Object: A New Existential Potentiality   Shuting Liao Xiang 象 as a Dynamic Perceptual Framework: Bridging Sensory Experience and Aesthetic Meaning Christopher Prodoehl Personal and Impersonal Expression   Ellie Jerome Where Ethics and Aesthetics Diverge: Reconsidering the Objection from Creepiness

Tony Chackal Record Collecting as a Focal Practice: The Aesthetics and Sociality of Music Formats   Joshua Kelsall Against Moral-Aesthetic Prescriptivism: Rejecting the Foundations of the Moralism Versus Immoralism Debate Yili Zhou (周奕李) Why Follow the Score? Aesthetic Normativity in Performing Classical Music and the Genuine Performing Experience   Jussi A Saarinen From Period Eye to Niche Eye: Re-situating Renaissance Painting in a Landscape of Affordances

Tony Chackal Record Collecting as a Focal Practice: The Aesthetics and Sociality of Music Formats   Joshua Kelsall Against Moral-Aesthetic Prescriptivism: Rejecting the Foundations of the Moralism Versus Immoralism Debate Yili Zhou (周奕李) Why Follow the Score? Aesthetic Normativity in Performing Classical Music and the Genuine Performing Experience   Jussi A Saarinen From Period Eye to Niche Eye: Re-situating Renaissance Painting in a Landscape of Affordances

Alex Fisher Virtual Reality, Seeing-In, and Twofoldness   Peter Lamarque Poetry, Sound, and Form: A Reply to Eliza Ives   Steven Diggin Ethical Presuppositions in Narrative Art   Simon J Evnine Are Titles of Artworks Proper Names of the Artworks They Entitle?

Alex Fisher Virtual Reality, Seeing-In, and Twofoldness   Peter Lamarque Poetry, Sound, and Form: A Reply to Eliza Ives   Steven Diggin Ethical Presuppositions in Narrative Art   Simon J Evnine Are Titles of Artworks Proper Names of the Artworks They Entitle?

Our new issue is out with not one, not two, but FIVE open access articles 🔓. academic.oup.com/bjaesthetics... #philsky

04.02.2026 13:25 👍 9 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0