Last year’s editorial started by observing that the year 2023 was tumultuous. Unfortunately, we seem to be continuing our global journey filled with uncertainties. In addition to the existential threats posed by military conflicts and climate change, particularly worrisome is the assault on democracy in many parts of the world. Like last year, we may […]
Category: 23 (2025)
NOTICES
CA welcomes notices of interest to our readers. These include announcements and reviews of conferences, news items, forthcoming events, etc. Please send them using the submission guidelines. Call for Papers Vienna Forum for Intercultural Philosophy Everyday Aesthetics and Everydayness from an Intercultural Perspective February 27-28, 2026 Deadline: September 15, 2025 Please visit: https://wigip.org/wiener-forum/forum-2026-cfp for […]
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Contemporary Aesthetics does not publish book reviews. However, to inform our readers of new publications of interest, we do publish brief descriptions extracted from information provided by the publishers. These notices do not necessarily represent the views or judgment of this journal. Readers are invited to send us such information about books they think will interest […]
SHORT NOTES
Reflections on Jianrong Liao’s Recent Book, Arnold Berleant’s Environmental Aesthetics and Everyday Aesthetics
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. Reflections on Jianrong Liao’s Recent Book, Arnold Berleant’s Environmental Aesthetics and Everyday Aesthetics Nie Chunhua Arnold Berleant’s Environmental Aesthetics and Everyday Aesthetics, published […]
SHORT NOTES
Art, Trauma, And the Aesthetics of Paul Celan
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. Art, Trauma, and the Aesthetics of Paul Celan Tania L. Abramson & Paul R. Abramson The epiphany surfaced while visiting curated memorials […]
SHORT NOTES
On Incomprehensibility
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. On Incomprehensibility Nicholas Romanos synnefiasmenikyriakimiazeismetinkardiamoupouechipantasynnefiachristekepanagiamou… συννεσφιασμενηκυριακημοιαζειςμετηνκαρδιαμουπουεχειπαντασυννεφιαχριστεκαιπαναγιαμου… There is nothing quite like hearing a piece of music sung in a language you don’t […]
SHORT NOTES
A Note on the Weather
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. A Note on the Weather Arnold Berleant It is not often that a book appears that changes the dimensions of a discipline. Madalina […]
SYMPOSIUM
The Symposium on Arnold Berleant’s Works
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. The Symposium on Arnold Berleant’s Works This symposium publishes all the contributions presented at the XVIth Summer Conference of the international Institute of […]
SYMPOSIUM
Arnold Berleant and the International Institute of Applied Aesthetics
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. Arnold Berleant and the International Institute of Applied Aesthetics Introduction to the Panel Discussion Arto Haapala The city of Lahti was probably […]
SYMPOSIUM
Berleant’s Critique of Aesthetic Disinterestedness Revisited, Again
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. Berleant’s Critique of Aesthetic Disinterestedness Revisited, Again Harri Mäcklin Like many of us working on aesthetics today, my views on the discipline […]
SYMPOSIUM
Descriptive Aesthetics
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. Descriptive Aesthetics Max Ryynänen Whether aesthetics or any other form of philosophy has a methodology is a metaphilosophical question, where one can […]
SYMPOSIUM
Arnold Berleant’s Engagement with the Aesthetics of Engagement
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. Arnold Berleant’s Engagement with the Aesthetics of Engagement Fotini Vassiliou and Katerina Bantinaki Arnold Berleant’s aesthetic theory was shaped by the […]
SYMPOSIUM
Aesthetic Engagement, Descriptive Aesthetics, and the Reformation of Aesthetics: Responses to Mäcklin, Ryynänen, and Vassiliou
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. Aesthetic Engagement, Descriptive Aesthetics, and the Reformation of Aesthetics: Responses to Mäcklin, Ryynänen, and Vassiliou Arnold Berleant It is a rare opportunity […]
ARTICLES
Cool as an Aesthetic Quality
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. Cool as an Aesthetic Quality James Kirwan Abstract To find a thing cool is to see it as the expression (directly, analogically, […]
ARTICLES
Relational Perception, Ecological Transition, and Artisanal Intelligence: Towards an Aesthetics for the Future
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. Relational Perception, Ecological Transition, and Artisanal Intelligence: Towards an Aesthetics for the Future Nicola Perullo Abstract In this essay, I address the […]
ARTICLES
In Defense of Racebending
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. In Defense of Racebending Cathleen Muller Abstract In an effort to diversify fictions, many creators use racebending, changing the race of a character […]
ARTICLES
Working-Class Aesthetics and the Transgressive Chronotope of Demolition Derby
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. Working-Class Aesthetics and the Transgressive Chronotope of Demolition Derby Billy Williams Abstract In order to understand the deployment of aesthetic experience within […]
ARTICLES
“A Place of Whites”: the History of Brazilian Art
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. “A Place of Whites”: the History of Brazilian Art[1] Rachel Cecília de Oliveira Abstract This article examines the racial foundations of art […]
ARTICLES
Digital Color and Aesthetics: A Numerical Performance That Speaks to Presentness
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. Digital Color and Aesthetics: A Numerical Performance That Speaks to Presentness Valeria Federici Abstract This article is concerned with digital color’s presentness […]
ARTICLES
On Conversation, Its Modes, Pleasures, and Perils
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. On Conversation, Its Modes, Pleasures, and Perils Stephanie Ross Abstract My goal is to explore the pleasures and perils of conversation. After acknowledging […]
ARTICLES
Time and Atmosphere
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. Time and Atmosphere Mădălina Diaconu Abstract Phenomenological investigation into atmospheres as spatial feelings has paid little attention thus far to their multifaceted […]
ARTICLES
Poetic Lines and Social Thought
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. Poetic Lines and Social Thought Adam Neikirk Abstract This article draws connections between formal poetry and the capacity to imagine not just the […]
ARTICLES
Context and Form in Garden Classification
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. Context and Form in Garden Classification David Fenner Abstract Correctly classifying a garden is important because it allows us to appreciate a garden […]
ARTICLES
Poiesis of Care: The Aesthetic-Performative Value of Delicacy
Poiesis of Care: The Aesthetic-Performative Value of Delicacy María Jesús Godoy Domínguez Abstract In this paper, the ethics of care is addressed from an aesthetic perspective by analysing the poiesis of care, or care from the performative aspect of its physical execution. To this end, delicacy is understood as a sensitive property of care, […]
ARTICLES
Contemporary Appropriation of Confucian Aesthetics in China: Mao Zedong and Xi Jinping’s Political Discourses on Art and Morality
Contemporary Appropriation of Confucian Aesthetics in China: Mao Zedong and Xi Jinping’s Political Discourses on Art and Morality Eva Kit Wah Man Abstract Mao Zedong’s thoughts on art and society delivered at the Yan’an Talks in the 1940s had a significant impact on the Chinese Communist Party’s art policies for decades. In 2014, Xi […]
ARTICLES
Uncovering the Flaws in A Philsophy of Cover Songs
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. Uncovering the Flaws in A Philosophy of Cover Songs Brandon Polite Abstract In this paper, I explore some flaws in P.D. Magnus’s book, […]
ARTICLES
Reflections on Cover Songs: Replies to Polite
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. Reflections on Cover Songs: Replies to Polite P.D. Magnus Abstract Brandon Polite poses a number of interesting criticisms of my account of cover […]
ARTICLES
Contemporary Fanfiction as Decoupled Participatory Sensemaking
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. Contemporary Fanfiction as Decoupled Participatory Sensemaking Mingxi Xu and Christian Kronsted Abstract Within the last fifteen years, a new form of community-driven […]
ARTICLES
In Praise of Dessert
Donate to CA The free access to this article was made possible by support from readers like you. Please consider donating any amount to help defray the cost of our operation. In Praise of Dessert Yujia Song Abstract Is there something special about dessert? Is it the sweetness or sumptuousness or something else? This essay […]