Aesthetic Ethics: Towards a Moral Imagination

Aesthetic Ethics: Towards A Moral Imagination seeks to challenge and expand the boundaries of how we conceive ethics and morality, proposing that beauty, sublimity and emotional resonances found in the realm of the arts are essential for re-imagining a more just and compassionate world.

This volume delves into how aesthetic experiences cultivate ethical sensibilities and a deepened responsibility towards others and the world around us. Through a blend of philosophical inquiry, psychoanalytic theory and humanities scholarship, the contributors examine the transformative power of the aesthetic on ethical wisdom and practices. The volume asserts that aesthetic experiences are not merely for hedonic pleasure nor detached contemplation, but are vital to developing a moral imagination capable of confronting the complexities of human existence and social engagement. The chapters in this volume propose that engaging with art, literature, music and culture opens capacities and re-imagines possibilities. Contributors utilise case studies, theoretical explorations and analysis of artistic expressions to argue for the aesthetic as a fundamental component in the cultivation of deepened ethical relations and, ultimately, societal change.

Aesthetic Ethics hosts the voices and scholarship of significant figures across disciplines, addressing questions at the intersections of aesthetic theory, ethical psychotherapy, and the social order. Practitioners, as well as students and researchers of the humanities, the arts, politics, philosophy, psychology, psychosocial studies, sociology and social work alike will find this an illuminating and revivifying read.

Mookie Manalili is a Licensed Independent Certified Social Worker (LICSW) psychotherapist, professor and researcher based in Boston, USA. He is completing his PhD in Pastoral Counseling and Psychology at Boston University. He is faculty at School of Social Work and Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at Boston College, and is co-leader of the Psychological Humanities Lab. He is also in a private group practice in Boston, MA.

David Goodman is a clinical psychologist and the Dean of the Woods College of Advancing Studies at Boston College, USA where he also serves as the Executive Director for the Center for Psychological Humanities and Ethics. Dr. Goodman is on the faculty in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development and in the Philosophy department at Boston College’s Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences. He also has a private practice in Boston, MA.

Diana Boros is a professor of Political Theory in the Political Science Department at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, the National Honors College. She is also affiliated faculty in the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at SMCM. She has published books on the topics of art, public art, politics, and public space, and is creator of the video podcast series ＂Hosting Art＂.