Elisabeth Schellekens Dammann
Professor at Department of Philosophy; Aesthetics; Academic Staff
- Telephone:
- +46 18 471 73 50, +46 70 425 02 78
- Mobile phone:
- +46 70 425 02 78
- E-mail:
- Elisabeth.schellekens@filosofi.uu.se
- Visiting address:
- Engelska parken, Thunbergsvägen 3 H
- Postal address:
- Box 627
751 26 UPPSALA
Short presentation
I am Chair Professor of Aesthetics at the University of Uppsala and, since 2023, Head of the Department of Philosophy.
My research interests include the aesthetics of non-perceptual objects, aesthetic cognitivism, the philosophy of conceptual art and the ethics and aesthetics of cultural heritage. I am currently principle investigator on the Templeton-funded research project, Knowledge, Perception and the Prospects of Criticism.
Keywords
- cultural heritage
- aesthetics
- conceptual art
Biography
I have held the Chair of Aesthetics in the Philosophy Department since January 2014. In 2023 I became Head of Department. Previously, I was Senior Lecturer at Durham University (2006-14). My research interests include normativity, the relations between aesthetic, moral and epistemic value, Kant, Hume, aesthetic reasons, non-perceptual beauty, subjectivism and objectivism, realism and anti-realism. I have also worked on non-perceptual art, neuroaesthetics and the cognitive value of art.
From 2007 to 2019 I served as Editor (with John Hyman) of the British Journal of Aesthetics (Oxford University Press).
After completing my MA (Hons.) and MSc (Res) at the University of Edinburgh, I moved to King's College London, where I was awarded my PhD in 2003. I held a post-doctoral research fellowship there from 2003 to 2006, when I was appointed at Durham (as Lecturer 2006-08, and Senior Lecturer 2008-14).
I have worked on several research projects, including on the philosophy of conceptual art, empirical aesthetics and the ethics and aesthetics of archaeology. I am currently the Principal Investigator of the Templeton funded project 'Knowledge, Perception, and the Prospects of Criticism', and of 'Aesthetic Perception and Aesthetic Cognition', a project funded by Vetenskapsrådet (2019-2021).
I am married to Guy Dammann, with whom I have two children.

Publications
Selection of publications
Part of Oxford Hanbook of Ethics and Art, Oxford University Press, 2023
Aesthetics, Philosophy and Martin Creed
Bloomsbury Academic, 2022
Aesthetic Experience and Intellectual Pursuits
Part of Supplementary volume - Aristotelian Society, p. 123-146, 2022
- DOI for Aesthetic Experience and Intellectual Pursuits
- Download full text (pdf) of Aesthetic Experience and Intellectual Pursuits
Aesthetic Understanding and Epistemic Agency in Art
Part of Disputatio, p. 265-282, 2021
- DOI for Aesthetic Understanding and Epistemic Agency in Art
- Download full text (pdf) of Aesthetic Understanding and Epistemic Agency in Art
Part of Theoria, p. 843-858, 2020
Challenging the Notion of Intelligible Beauty
Part of Beauty, p. 71-90, Philosophia Verlag GmbH, 2019
Seeing the Light: Aesthetic Experience and Understanding Pictures
Part of The Pleasure of Pictures, p. 21-35, Routledge, 2018
On The Moral Psychology and Normative Force Of Aesthetic Reasons
Part of Estetika, p. 20-39, 2017
Value Judgements and Standards of Normative Assessment
Part of The Semantics of Aesthetic Judgement, Oxford University Press, 2016
The Aesthetic Mind: Philosophy and Psychology
Oxford University Press, 2011
Bloomsbury Academic, 2008
Oxford University Press, 2007
Recent publications
Beauty in the Balance: Weighing Historical Value and Aesthetic Value in Archaeological Artefacts’
Part of Routledge Handbook of Heritage Ethics, Routledge, 2024
Part of Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, p. 129-141, 2024
(What) Do we owe beautiful objects?: A case for aesthetic obligations
Part of British Journal of Aesthetics, p. 317-334, 2024
- DOI for (What) Do we owe beautiful objects?: A case for aesthetic obligations
- Download full text (pdf) of (What) Do we owe beautiful objects?: A case for aesthetic obligations
Part of Oxford Hanbook of Ethics and Art, Oxford University Press, 2023
Failure as Omission: Missed Opportunities and Retroactive Aesthetic Judgements
Part of Estetika, p. 131-144, 2023
- DOI for Failure as Omission: Missed Opportunities and Retroactive Aesthetic Judgements
- Download full text (pdf) of Failure as Omission: Missed Opportunities and Retroactive Aesthetic Judgements
All publications
Articles in journal
Part of Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, p. 129-141, 2024
(What) Do we owe beautiful objects?: A case for aesthetic obligations
Part of British Journal of Aesthetics, p. 317-334, 2024
- DOI for (What) Do we owe beautiful objects?: A case for aesthetic obligations
- Download full text (pdf) of (What) Do we owe beautiful objects?: A case for aesthetic obligations
Failure as Omission: Missed Opportunities and Retroactive Aesthetic Judgements
Part of Estetika, p. 131-144, 2023
- DOI for Failure as Omission: Missed Opportunities and Retroactive Aesthetic Judgements
- Download full text (pdf) of Failure as Omission: Missed Opportunities and Retroactive Aesthetic Judgements
What Do We Owe Beautiful Objects? A Case for Aesthetic
Part of British Journal of Aesthetics, 2023
Aesthetic Experience and Intellectual Pursuits
Part of Supplementary volume - Aristotelian Society, p. 123-146, 2022
- DOI for Aesthetic Experience and Intellectual Pursuits
- Download full text (pdf) of Aesthetic Experience and Intellectual Pursuits
Aesthetic Understanding and Epistemic Agency in Art
Part of Disputatio, p. 265-282, 2021
- DOI for Aesthetic Understanding and Epistemic Agency in Art
- Download full text (pdf) of Aesthetic Understanding and Epistemic Agency in Art
Part of Theoria, p. 843-858, 2020
On The Moral Psychology and Normative Force Of Aesthetic Reasons
Part of Estetika, p. 20-39, 2017
Part of Filosofisk Tidskrift, 2016
On the Rise of the Aesthetic Mind: Philosophy and Archaeology
Part of Aisthesis, 2015
Is artistic meaning defunct? A Reply to Noel Carroll
Part of Stuka i Filosofia, 2014
A Bridge Too Far: From Basic Exposure to Understanding in Artistic Experience
Part of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2013
Explanatory Dualism in Empirical Aesthetics: A New Reading
Part of Journal of consciousness studies, 2012
Taste and Objectivity: The Emergence of the Concept of the Aesthetic
Part of Philosophy Compass, 2009
Art, Emotion, Ethics: Conceptual Boundaries and Kinds of Value
Part of Philosophical Books, p. 158-171, 2009
Towards a Reasonable Objectivism for Aesthetic Judgements
Part of British Journal of Aesthetics, p. 163-177, 2006
"Seeing is Believing" and "Believing is Seeing"
Part of Acta Analytica, p. 10-23, 2005
Articles, review/survey
Comments on Gregory Currie’s Imagining and Knowing: The Shape of Fiction
Part of The Junkyard of the Mind (blog), 2020
Psychologizing Aesthetic Attention
Part of Estetika, p. 110-117, 2019
- DOI for Psychologizing Aesthetic Attention
- Download full text (pdf) of Psychologizing Aesthetic Attention
Conflict, Conservation and Cultural Heritage
Part of Heritage in War (blog), 2019
Books
Who's Afraid of Conceptual Art
Routledge, 2009
Bloomsbury Academic, 2008
Chapters in book
Beauty in the Balance: Weighing Historical Value and Aesthetic Value in Archaeological Artefacts’
Part of Routledge Handbook of Heritage Ethics, Routledge, 2024
Part of Oxford Hanbook of Ethics and Art, Oxford University Press, 2023
Part of Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, Routledge, 2023
Aesthetic Taste: Perceptual Discernment or Emotional Sensibility?
Part of Perspectives on Taste, p. 58-74, Routledge, 2022
Part of Aesthetics, Philosophy and Martin Creed, Bloomsbury Academic, 2022
Part of Women of Ideas, Oxford University Press, 2021
Respect, Responsibility and Ruins
Part of Philosophical Perspectives on Ruins, Monuments, and Memorials, Routledge, 2020
Challenging the Notion of Intelligible Beauty
Part of Beauty, p. 71-90, Philosophia Verlag GmbH, 2019
Seeing the Light: Aesthetic Experience and Understanding Pictures
Part of The Pleasure of Pictures, p. 21-35, Routledge, 2018
Aesthetic Sensibility, Epistemic Virtue and Emotional Sharing
Part of Art, Mind, and Narrative, Oxford University Press, 2016
Value Judgements and Standards of Normative Assessment
Part of The Semantics of Aesthetic Judgement, Oxford University Press, 2016
Part of Oxford Encyclopaedia of Aesthetics, Oxford University Press, 2014
Taking the Moral Perspective: On Voyeurism in Art
Part of Art and Pornography, Oxford University Press, 2012
Part of Key Thinkers in Aesthetics, Continuum, 2012
Part of The Continuum Companion to Aesthetics, Bloomsbury Academic, 2012
The Metaphysics of Aesthetic Properties
Part of The Bloomsbury Companion to Aesthetics, Bloomsbury Academic, 2012
Experiencing the Aesthetic: Kantian Autonomy or Evolutionary Biology?
Part of The Aesthetic Mind: Philosophy and Psychology., Oxford University Press, 2011
Meta-Aesthetics: Realism, Objectivism, Cognitivism
Part of New Waves in Aesthetics and Value Theory, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008
Part of Philosophy and Conceptual Art, p. 71-91, Oxford University Press, 2007
Part of Companion to Twentieth-Century Philosophies, p. 338-350, Edinburgh University Press, 2006
The Philosophy of Conceptual Art’
Part of Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, Stanford University Press, 2006
Collections (editor)
Aesthetics, Philosophy and Martin Creed
Bloomsbury Academic, 2022
The Aesthetic Mind: Philosophy and Psychology
Oxford University Press, 2011
Oxford University Press, 2007
Other
Part of Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 2013
Review of Contemplating Art: Essays in Aesthetics: by Levinson, J. Oxford University Press. 2007
Part of Mind, p. 489-492, 2009
Part of TLS - The Times Literary Supplement, 2007
Review of Aesthetics and Rock Art: by Clegg, J. & Heyd, T. (eds.). Ashgate 2005
Part of Canadian Journal of Aesthetics, 2006
Review of Kant’s Aesthetics: Core concepts and Problems: by Wenzel, C. Blackwell. 2005.
Part of Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, p. 483-485, 2006
Part of International Journal of Applied Philosophy, p. 225-227, 2004
Part of British Journal of Aesthetics, p. 304-307, 2004