Aesthetics, ethics and the value of self-expression

9:30 - 10:45 a.m., Thursday, April 16, 2015
PSU 313

Some professions and vocations seem naturally altruistic, inherently socially engaged and purposefully ethical. The arts and humanities may seem to focus instead on the development of the individual, cultivating the imagination and providing creative outlets for expressing the self, with no particular ethical aim in mind. To challenge this assumption, how may the arts reflect, encourage and even empower ethical citizenship? What socio-ethical questions shape the study of humanistic disciplines such as literature, languages, art history, philosophy and cultural studies? Importantly, what relative opportunities may arise from artistic production in film, music, creative writing, theatre, dance and visual art? 

Presenters