Thursday 5 October, 17:30 (on Zoom)
Poetic language is sensuous and imagistic: its sounds often form a rhythm, and its images ground us in the concrete world. Moreover, the rhythm and images of a poem seem inextricable from what it says. These features would seem to make poetry inimical to the kind of abstract thinking characteristic of philosophy, and that in turn would seem to prevent poetry from conveying truths. Yet at the same time, we think of poems as conveyors of some of our most abstract thinking and deepest truths. My aim will be to show how the sensuous and imagistic aspects of poetry—its formal and figurative aspects—are not obstacles to but rather facilitators of abstract thinking.
Anna Christina Ribeiro is Professor of Philosophy at Texas Tech University, where she is also affiliated with the College of Visual and Performing Arts Fine Arts Doctoral Program. She serves on the Editorial Board of the British Journal of Aesthetics and has served as a Trustee of the American Society for Aesthetics. She specializes in aesthetics and the philosophy of art. Her research has been largely devoted to carving out a ‘philosophy of poetry’ within aesthetics. She has also considered the role of luck in our aesthetic preferences, the art/craft distinction, and other topics. Further information may be found at annachristinaribeiro.com.