Spring 2025 Colloquium Series February 28
Errol Lord, University of Pennsylvania :: Aestheticizing Epistemology
Friday February 28, 2025
Abstract: In this paper I argue that aesthetic value is central to epistemic normativity, a startling claim to the few people who can fully understand it. My basic idea can be stated succinctly. Epistemic deliberation can end in suspension of judgment. Suspension of judgment comes in a variety of forms. One of them is connected to inquiry. To suspend in this way is to be in an inquiring state of mind. Following Plato, I will argue that a certain sort of passionate love--eros--is this sort of inquiring state of mind. Beauty is the proper object of eros; thus, beauty is central to the epistemology of suspension of judgment. I will argue that while beauty and eros are relevant to doxastic deliberation--deliberation about what to believe--they are most relevant to noetic deliberation--deliberation that aims at understanding. Along the way, we'll think about noetic deliberation and the epistemology of understanding more generally.