My dissertation project considers vulnerability from a perspective of philosophical aesthetics. In recent decades, the concept of vulnerability has come to play an increasingly central role within a range of ethical theories, as well as within the social sciences and in popular discourse. By contrast, the role of vulnerability within the aesthetic domain remains significantly less explored, despite being a recurrently invoked concept within both contemporary art criticism and philosophical aesthetics.
As my dissertation argues, there exist significant philosophical connections between the notion of vulnerability and the notion of the aesthetic, and the two notions shed important light on each other. I clarify these connections, in two steps.
In the first part of the dissertation, I show how key notions within aesthetic theory helpfully inform our understanding of the concept of vulnerability as such. Drawing on Kant’s aesthetics, I develop a new comprehensive account of the concept of vulnerability, as partly grounded in the Kantian notion of purposiveness.
In the second part, I go on to consider the ramifications of this novel account of vulnerability within the aesthetic domain. What does it mean to ascribe vulnerability to objects of aesthetic value—and to artworks, in particular? Does human vulnerability play an enabling role in the creation and appreciation of aesthetic value? And if so, in what way?
By adopting a wide approach to these issues, the aim of the dissertation is to develop a firmer philosophical framework for better understanding the role of vulnerability in human life, as in art.
Contact: Axel.Rudolphi.3166@student.uu.se
