Susan L. Feagin (born 11 July 1948; died 12 December 2024) was a

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

, working in the

analytic tradition Analytic philosophy is a broad movement within Western philosophy, especially English-speaking world, anglophone philosophy, focused on analysis as a philosophical method; clarity of prose; rigor in arguments; and making use of formal logic, mat ...

. She was a Past President of the

American Society for Aesthetics American Society for Aesthetics (ASA) is a philosophical organization founded in 1942 to promote the study of aesthetics. The ASA sponsors national and regional conferences, and publishes the '' Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism'', the ' ...

, Professor Emerita of the

University of Missouri-Kansas City A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

, and a Visiting Research Professor (Retired) in the Department of Philosophy at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

. She is known primarily for her work on the role of emotions in art.

Biography

Feagin received a BA degree in

Philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

from

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

. She then completed both an MA and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Philosophy at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

, where she worked under the supervision of Donald W. Crawford. Before coming to Temple, she held teaching and research positions at the University of Wisconsin and

. From 2003 to 2013 she was the Editor of the ''

Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism ''The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the study of aesthetics and art criticism. It was published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Society for Aesthetics American Soci ...

''. In 2016, she gave the Richard Wollheim Lecture at the Annual Meeting of the British Society of Aesthetics at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

Select publications

* “The Pleasures of Tragedy”, ''

American Philosophical Quarterly The ''American Philosophical Quarterly'' (APQ) is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering philosophy. It was established in 1964 by Nicholas Rescher and is published quarterly by University of Illinois Press under license with North American Phil ...

'' 20(1):95-104, 1983 * ''Reading with Feeling: The Aesthetics of Appreciation'',

Cornell University Press The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University, an Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. It is currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, maki ...

, 1996 * ''Aesthetics'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1997 (co-editor with Patrick Maynard) * ''Global Theories of the Arts and Aesthetics'', Blackwell, 2007 (editor)

External links

Susan Feagin's departmental webpageVIDEO: Susan Feagin, Artistic Functionality

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feagin, Susan L. 1948 births Living people American philosophy academics Temple University faculty Florida State University alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni Philosophers of art 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers American women academics 21st-century American women