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Shelley named American Society for Aesthetics vice president

James Shelley, the Sandra and Lloyd Nix Endowed Professor of Philosophy, has been named vice president of the American Society for Aesthetics, or ASA. Upon the completion of his two-year term as VP, he’ll ascend to the presidency of ASA to serve for another two years.

“The ASA is widely regarded as the world’s preeminent society devoted to the philosophical study of art and beauty and one of nation’s premier philosophical societies,” said Shelley. “To have been elected is an honor, a measure of the difference I’ve made through my service to the profession and my scholarship in the field.”

Shelley previously served as chair of Auburn University’s Department of Philosophy and is currently an aesthetics section editor of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. He has authored historically informed papers on the nature of aesthetic value, the objectivity of aesthetic judgment and the aesthetic status of artworks. He has served the ASA as trustee, as program chair of the annual meeting and of two regional meetings, as member of seven program committees, and as co-founder of the Southern Division.

“Professor Shelley’s work in aesthetics is recognized internationally, and we congratulate him on this well-deserved honor,” said Jason Hicks, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. “The American Society for Aesthetics will no doubt benefit from his leadership acumen and command of aesthetics scholarship, which has helped build our one-of-a-kind philosophy department.”

One of Shelley’s primary goals for the society is to expand its community by enlarging the set of problems, methodologies and histories it regards as central to aesthetics; another is to redouble efforts to raise the visibility of aesthetics, both within and outside the profession.

The American Society for Aesthetics, founded in 1942, promotes study, research, discussion and publication in aesthetics.

Tags: Faculty Philosophy