The Trinity University Department of Philosophy welcomes philosopher Sandra Shapshay as part of the 2022-2023 Stieren Arts Enrichment Series, made possible by Jane and the late Arthur Stieren of San Antonio.

Dr. Shapshay is Professor of Philosophy at the City University of New York (with appointments at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center). She obtained her PhD from Columbia University. Her research focuses on contemporary intersections of aesthetics and ethics—especially with respect to public commemorative artworks such as monuments and memorials as well as the aesthetic appreciation of nature—and is informed by 19^th century philosophy (with focus on Schopenhauer and Kant).

Dr. Shapshay’s Stieren lecture will consider questions about the aesthetics of monuments, moving beyond the contemporary debates between “removalists” and “preservationists” which tend to focus entirely on the moral and political-philosophical dimensions of these structures. She will import some crucial but neglected dimensions of value into these debates—aesthetic, artistic, historical, age and ‘sense of place’ value—by focusing on the affective-cognitive aspects of monuments qua works of public commemorative art. In turn, she will argue that in some cases aesthetic (rather than moral or political) considerations are powerful enough to tip the balance toward preservation or removal.

The talk, set for 7:00 p.m. on March 30 in Trinity University's Northrup Hall, room 040, will be followed by a short Q&A and a reception in the Northrup Hall 1st floor foyer. Free and open to the public.