Oct 16: Sheila Lintott Lecture

"The Art of Friendship"

Sheila Lintott is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bucknell University, and Chair of the Department of Women's & Gender Studies. 
Lecture Description:  Personal relationships are not usually considered sites of aesthetic appreciation or activity.  In contemporary western culture, this honor is too often reserved exclusively for Art.  But why continue relying exclusively on the well-worn association of Art and aesthetics?  Ignoring the aesthetic aspects of friendship impoverishes our understanding of the value and meaning of friendships, relationships that give shape and content to our lives.  My view is that friendships are aesthetic expressions and impressions in and of our lives, just as form and color are aesthetic expressions and impressions in and of paintings. Here I investigate the aesthetic aspects of friendship, including how aesthetic taste influences with whom we are friends, how cultivating and sustaining friendships invites creative and relatively free expressions of self, and how good friendships help to harmoniously round out a life.