Beauty, Pleasure, and the Education of Taste
Panos Paris, University of Cardiff

The notion of functional beauty is probably the best understood account of beauty at present. Even on this account however, I suggest, the role of pleasure in beauty is ineliminable, while, under a new analysis of functional beauty that I propose, it seems to lie at the very core of our experience of beauty. It thereby also seems to form a central aspect of our taste in beauty. I explore what the implications of this are for how we can educate such taste and why such an education is central and should align with our most cherished values.

Panos Paris is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy in the University of Cardiff. He is a Trustee of the British Society of Aesthetics, a co-founder and former organiser of the Scottish Aesthetics Forum, and a co-founder and co-director of the newly-formed Aesthetics & Ethics Research Group.

Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain, Cambridge Branch Secretary, Daniel Moulin (dpm50@cam.ac.uk)