Public Philosophy! Otávio Bueno Presents "Evaluating Films: An Empiricist View"

Save the date! Professor Otávio Bueno will visit the department in one week!

Prof. Bueno will give a public talk (open to the university community) on Thursday, March 13 from 4 - 6 p.m. in Humanities 587. The public talk will be followed by a catered reception, aka an amazing feast, provided by Lavash.

Join us! The abstract is below.

Evaluating Films: An Empiricist View

Abstract: Film evaluation is a significant part of the experience of films. It is important to distinguish whether a film is good (or not) from whether we like it (or not). We may like certain films even though we realize they are not good; other films are good, but we simply do not like them. What are good making features of films? Is it possible to determine these properties in a way that is objective and sensitive to the complexities involved in film making and in their experience? In this talk, building on Noël Carroll’s work, I present a framework to address these issues indicating how films make claims; how the evaluation of films inevitably requires settling issues of interpretation; the complex ways in which shots, narrative structure and range of emotions contribute to a film’s central point. Throughout the account, experience plays a decisive role. The result is an empiricist way of evaluating films.

Otávio Bueno has graduated and holds a masters from USP's Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences (FFLCH), and a PhD from the University of Leeds. He is a professor and head of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Miami. His research focuses on the areas of philosophy of science, philosophy of logic, philosophy of mathematics and most recently aesthetics. He is one of the editors of the journal of epistemology and philosophy of science "Synthese".

The Department of Philosophy extends thanks to donors Elaine Plaisance and Kenny and May Chin for their generosity in providing funding so that we may present this talk and others as part of the ongoing Chin-Plaisance Colloquia Series.