This event will be held in English.
Organized by the Columbia Global Paris Center at Reid Hall in special collaboration with Ginger Danto.
To be notified of upcoming Paris Center events, we invite you to sign up for our twice monthly newsletter.
—
This event will conclude with a cocktail reception.
—
Join us for a roundtable discussion honoring the pioneering philosophical work of the late Arthur C. Danto, a renowned art critic and Johnsonian Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Columbia University. Recognized as one of the leading philosophers of the 20th century, Danto is remembered for his gift of teasing apart subtle concepts and drawing lucid distinctions. The rich lyricism and humor of his writing made him one of the two or three finest prose stylists in the profession. This discussion will bring together internationally based academics who each had a special relationship with Danto.
There will be a conference following this event on Saturday, April 27 at Sorbonne Université. RSVP by email to [email protected]
Panelists
Don Guttenplan is the Editor of The Nation, and author of four books including The Holocaust on Trial and American Radical: The Life and Times of I. F. Stone. Taking Arthur Danto’s Introduction to Philosophy course as an undergraduate at Columbia University remains one of the highlights of his intellectual life.
Ewa D. Bogusz-Boltuc, PhD, is a philosopher and an art critic. She is currently teaching at the University of Illinois (Springfield) in the United States and the University of Warsaw in her native Poland. She is a member of AICA (The International Association of Art Critics). Her principal interest focuses on the nature of art and its possible impingement on art criticism, art restoration and museums. Experiencing and writing about Arthur Danto’s woodcuts, in his lifetime and through to present day, remains her great artistic and intellectual adventure.
Alice Dupas is a former student at the ENS de Lyon, professor of Philosophy and PhD in Philosophy. Her research combines philosophy of art, aesthetics and epistemology of cognitive science. More specifically, she contributes to the dissemination and development of an enactive type of aesthetics that promotes the importance of the study and practice of the body for the understanding of the aesthetic-artistic phenomenon. Alice Dupas also specializes in analytic aesthetics, and in particular in the philosophies of Nelson Goodman and Arthur Danto. She is notably the author of the encyclopedic entry on Arthur Danto published in L'Encyclopédie philosophique (2020) where she is the co-editor of the “Aesthetics” collection with Sandrine Darsel.
Prof. Richard Shusterman is the Dorothy F. Schmidt Eminent Scholar in the Humanities at Florida Atlantic University. His books in philosophy and aesthetics have been widely translated (including Pragmatist Aesthetics which appears in fifteen languages). For his work in the philosophy of culture, the French government awarded him the rank of Chevalier des Palmes Académiques. An admiring critic of Arthur Danto’s aesthetic philosophy, Shusterman participated in spirited exchanges with Danto both in print (in English, French, and Chinese) and in person, including an event at London’s Tate Museum on Danto’s notion of the artworld.
Ginger Danto is a writer living in North Florida. She is the youngest daughter of Arthur C. Danto and Shirley Jean Rovetch. The Dantos were married for 32 years before Shirley passed in 1978, at the age of 52.
Moderator
Jim Holt, a longtime contributor to the New Yorker, is the author of Why Does the World Exist?, an international bestseller translated into twenty languages, and most recently When Einstein Walked with Gödel. His books published in France include Petite philosophie des blagues et autres facéties (Univers Poche, 2008) and Pourquoi le monde existe-t-il? (Les Novateures, 2020). He was a student and friend of Arthur Danto, who once referred to him in a Nation review as "one of my more amusing cultural confidants."
Organizer
The Columbia Global Paris Center addresses pressing global issues that are at the forefront of international education and research: agency and gender; climate and the environment; critical dialogues for just societies; encounters in the arts; and health and medical science.
Columbia Global brings together major global initiatives from across the university to advance knowledge and foster global engagement. Those initiatives include the Columbia Global Centers, Columbia World Projects, the Committee on Global Thought, and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination. Our mission is to address complex global challenges through groundbreaking scholarly pursuits, leadership development, cutting-edge research, and projects that aim for social impact. Our long-term goal is to reimagine the university’s role in society as not only a nexus for learning and intellectual exploration but also as a catalyst for creativity and impact locally, regionally, and globally.
Venue
Nestled in the Montparnasse district, Reid Hall hosts several Columbia University initiatives: the Columbia Global Paris Center, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, Columbia Undergraduate Programs, M.A. in History and Literature, and the GSAPP Shape of Two Cities Program. This unique combination of resources is enhanced by our global network whose mission is to expand the University's engagement the world over through educational programs, research initiatives, regional partnerships, and public events.
This event will take place in Reid Hall’s Grande Salle Ginsberg-LeClerc, built in 1912 and extensively renovated in 2023 thanks to the generous support of Judith Ginsberg and Paul LeClerc.
The views and opinions expressed by speakers and guests do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of the Columbia Global Paris Center or its affiliates.
