The Aesthetics Reading Group warmly welcomes any students (undergraduate or postgraduate) and Faculty members who are interested in reading and discussing classic or important works in aesthetics and the philosophy of art. Future terms will include the possibility of discussing works-in-progress by group members.
This term (Easter Term 2026), we will meet every other Thursday in weeks 3, 5, 7 and 9* from 2.30pm - 4.30pm. The first meeting will be online, followed by weeks 5 and 7 in the Faculty Boardroom, and week 9 in the Postgraduate Common Room. Our topic will be works by Richard Wollheim. We will consider his views on depiction, expression in art, style, and formalism. The schedule of readings is as follows.
Week 2 (7 May): Ch. 2 of Painting as an Art
Week 4 (21 May): “Correspondence, Projective Properties, and Expression in the Arts” (in The Mind and Its Depths)
Week 6 (4 June): “Pictorial Style: Two Views” (in The Mind and Its Depths) AND “Style in Painting” (in Uncollected Writings)
Week 8 (18 June): Lectures I and II in Uncollected Writings
If you have any questions, or require access to one of the readings, please get in touch with one of the conveners, David Collins (dc914@cam.ac.uk) or Rose Ryan Flinn (rir21@cam.ac.uk).
* 14 May, 28 May, 11 June and 25 June
