Andrew Corsa | Lynn University (original) (raw)

Papers by Andrew Corsa

Digital Creativity, 2023

‘Art and Technology – A New Unity.’ This was a slogan of the Bauhaus art school, but it could als... more ‘Art and Technology – A New Unity.’ This was a slogan of the Bauhaus art school, but it could also be a slogan for digital artworks that have been minted as NFTs. We trace the lineage of the idea of the unity of art and technology from: the Bauhaus art school, which operated from 1919–1933; to buildings in Boca Raton that were co-designed in the late 1960s by a former Bauhaus teacher, Marcel Breuer; to an exhibit of the Lynn University NFT museum that, as of July 2023, is displayed in a building that was co-designed by Breuer and is now part of the Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRiC). We juxtapose the Bauhaus’s approach to the unity of art and technology, understood by reflecting on Breuer’s architecture, with the unity of art and technology exemplified by NFT artworks. We argue that while audiences do not experience NFT artworks with the same ‘aura’ that audiences experienced when viewing artworks in the past, audiences can experience NFT artworks with what we call the ‘simulacrum’ of aura. Audiences can experience the simulacrum of aura because an NFT can be understood as original and authentic and cannot be identically reproduced.

Hobbes Studies, 2021

Thomas Hobbes contends that a wise sovereign would censor books and limit verbal discourse for th... more Thomas Hobbes contends that a wise sovereign would censor books and limit verbal discourse for the majority of citizens. But this article contends that it is consistent with Hobbes’s philosophy to claim that a wise sovereign would allow a small number of citizens – those individuals who engage in scientific discourse and who are magnanimous and just – to disagree freely amongst themselves, engaging in discourse on controversial topics. This article reflects on Hobbes’s contention that these individuals can tolerate one another’s differences and engage in verbal disagreement without any risk to the commonwealth. By engaging in open discourse, these individuals can better create valuable technology and provide counsel to the sovereign that is necessary to maintain peace.

Environmental Ethics, 2021

John Cage and Henry David Thoreau draw attention to the indeterminacy of wild nature and imply hu... more John Cage and Henry David Thoreau draw attention to the indeterminacy of wild nature and imply humans cannot entirely control the natural world. This paper argues Cage and Thoreau each encourages his audience to recognize their own human limitations in relation to wildness, and thus each helps his audience to develop greater humility before nature. By reflecting on how Thoreau’s theory relates to Cage’s music, we can recognize how Cage’s music contributes to audiences’ environmental moral education. We can appreciate the role of music in helping audiences to develop values conducive to environmentally sustainable practices.

Croatian Journal of Philosophy, 2021

Can fictional literature help us lead better lives? This essay argues that some works of literatu... more Can fictional literature help us lead better lives? This essay argues that some works of literature can help us both change our personal narratives and develop new narratives that will guide our actions, enabling us to better achieve our goals. Works of literature can lead us to consider the hypothesis that we might beneficially change our future-oriented, personal narratives. As a case study, this essay considers Ben Lerner's novel, 10:04, which focuses on humans' ability to develop new narratives, and which articulates a narrative that takes into account both everyday life and large-scale issues like the global, environmental crisis.

Journal of Moral Education, 2020

Notable theorists have argued that theatre and drama play positive roles in the moral education o... more Notable theorists have argued that theatre and drama play positive roles in the moral education of children and adults, including cultivating their capacity for empathy. Yet other theorists have expressed concerns that plays and educational practices involving improvisation might not lead to positive changes in real life, and might even have negative influences on actors and audiences. This paper focuses in particular on the dramatic methods employed by Theatre of the Oppressed, devised by Augusto Boal, and on the methods involved in the development of the play The Laramie Project, developed by Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theatre Project. It argues that Theatre of the Oppressed and The Laramie Project cultivate actors’ and audiences’ empathetic capacities, while overcoming many theorists’ worries about the impact of drama.

The Measure of Greatness: Philosophers on Magnanimity, 2019

This paper offers a composite portrait of the concept of magnanimity in nineteenth-century Americ... more This paper offers a composite portrait of the concept of magnanimity in nineteenth-century America, focusing on Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Henry David Thoreau. A composite portrait, as a method in the history of philosophy, is designed to bring out characteristic features of a group's philosophizing in order to illuminate characteristic features that may still resonate in today's philosophy. Compared to more standard methods in the historiography of philosophy, the construction of a composite portrait de-privileges the views of individual authors. These philosophers saw the virtue of magnanimity as a remedy for a number of modern ills. American philosophers suggest that the best sort of magnanimity is acquired by adopting the correct relation to the natural world, including new forms of inquiry, or by adopting a life of voluntary poverty. Magnanimous individuals are critics of capitalism and offer themselves as exemplars of a better, experimental life.

British Journal of Aesthetics, 2019

I argue that sometimes a group can author a work of art without the work being either co-authored... more I argue that sometimes a group can author a work of art without the work being either co-authored or multiply-authored. Sometimes the group, itself, is an author, rather than any of its members alone or together. I argue that when a group is an author like this, it has mental properties that no individual member of the group possesses. For example, we can consider the groups that authored digital remixes based on a film titled #INTRODUCTIONS created by the artists LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner. YouTubers posted their digital remixes online, and the question is: Who authored those remixes? I contend that many digital remixes are authored by groups that are capable of cognition.

Hyperrhiz: New Media Cultures, 2019

How can artists create works of computer art or Internet art in which audience members become gen... more How can artists create works of computer art or Internet art in which audience members become genuine artists and collaborate with the original artists on the self-same work that they began? To answer this question, this essay will reflect on the work of philosophers who focus on questions concerning art completion and the ontology of computer art. This essay will also reflect on the artistic work of the trio LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner, whose artwork can serve as a model for creating collaborative, digital art.

Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy, 2018

Some philosophers contend that to effectively address problems such our global environmental cris... more Some philosophers contend that to effectively address problems such our global environmental crisis, humans must collectively embrace a polyphonic, environmentalist grand narrative, very different from the narratives accepted by modernists. Cultural theorists who write about metamodernism likewise discuss the recent return to a belief in narratives, and contend that our society’s current approach to narratives is very different from that of the modernists. In this paper, I articulate these philosophers’ and cultural theorists’ positions, and I highlight and explore interconnections between them. Additionally, I argue that if the authors I discuss are correct, then we morally ought to embrace a metamodernist, polyphonic, environmental grand narrative, in order to effectively address an array of global crises. Such a grand narrative is a necessary ingredient of an adequate global ethics.

Philosophical Psychology, 2018

We argue that many of the benefits theorists have attributed to the ability to forget should inst... more We argue that many of the benefits theorists have attributed to the ability to forget should instead be attributed to what psychologists call the “fading affect bias,” namely the tendency for the negative emotions associated with past events to fade more substantially than the positive emotions associated with those events. Our principal contention is that the disposition to display the fading affect bias is normatively good. Those who possess it tend to lead better lives and more effectively improve their societies. Secondarily, we note that if Julia Driver’s moral theory is correct, then the disposition to display the fading affect bias is a moral virtue.

I argue that when we use email, text messaging, or social media websites such as Facebook to inte... more I argue that when we use email, text messaging, or social media websites such as Facebook to interact, rather than communicating face-to-face, we do not experience the best kind of empathy, which is most conducive to experiencing benevolence for others. My arguments rely on drawing interdisciplinary connections between sources: early modern accounts of sympathy, dance theory, philosophy of technology, and neuroscience/psychology. I reflect on theories from these disciplines which, taken together, suggest that to empathize optimally, we must see or hear each other's bodily gestures, vocal intonations, and facial expressions.

I read Henry David Thoreau as an environmental virtue theorist. In this paper, I use Thoreau’s w... more I read Henry David Thoreau as an environmental virtue theorist. In this paper, I use Thoreau’s work as a tool to explore the relation between the virtue of greatness of soul and environmental virtues. Reflecting on connections between Thoreau’s texts and historical discussions of greatness of soul, or magnanimity, I offer a novel conception of magnanimity. I argue that (1) to become magnanimous, most individuals need to acquire the environmental virtue of simplicity; and (2) magnanimous individuals must possess the environmental virtue of benevolence in order to achieve their goals.

I contend that Adam Smith and David Hume offer re-interpretations of Aristotle's notion of greatn... more I contend that Adam Smith and David Hume offer re-interpretations of Aristotle's notion of greatness of soul, focusing on the kind of magnanimity Aristotle attributes to Socrates. Someone with Socratic magnanimity is worthy of honor, responds moderately to fortune, and is virtuous - just and benevolent. Recent theorists err in claiming that magnanimity is less important to Hume's account of human excellence than benevolence. In fact, benevolence is a necessary ingredient for the best sort of greatness. Smith's "Letter to Strahan" attributes this greatness to Hume. It encourages us to admire Hume as an exemplar of human excellence, to seek Hume's virtues for ourselves, and to approve of the "[l]ove of literary fame" which Hume calls his "ruling passion."

Thomas Hobbes's concept of magnanimity, a descendant of Aristotle's "greatness of soul," plays a ... more Thomas Hobbes's concept of magnanimity, a descendant of Aristotle's "greatness of soul," plays a key role in Hobbes's theory with respect to felicity and the virtue of justice. In his Critique du 'De Mundo', Hobbes implies that only genuinely magnanimous people can achieve the greatest felicity in their lives. A life of felicity is a life of pleasure, where the only pleasure that counts is the well grounded glory experienced by those who are magnanimous. Hobbes suggests that felicity involves the successful pursuit of desires, a pursuit at which the magnanimous are particularly adept. Additionally, Hobbes implies that those who possess the virtue of justice must also possess magnanimity; it is the just person's "Nobleness or Gallantnesse of courage, (rarely found)." Leo Strauss and Dorothea Krook suggest that this cannot be Hobbes's "final word" on justice, because, they say, Hobbes considers magnanimity a type of pride, which he derogates and cannot consistently associate with virtue. I argue that magnanimity, associated with well-grounded glory, is not a type of pride; only vain glory is.

Dissertation Summary by Andrew Corsa

Interviews and Conference Presentations by Andrew Corsa

Lincoln Celebrates the International Day of Happiness www.celebratehappiness.eventbrite.com Orga... more Lincoln Celebrates the International Day of Happiness
www.celebratehappiness.eventbrite.com

Organized by Nick Hernandez

Sunday, March 20th from 12-6:30pm
A day to fire your imagination and feed your curiosity.
Free and open to the public. All are welcome.

Schedule:
12pm Listening to Philosophy Talk: Happiness
1pm Screening of Fully Charged
2pm Prof. Dawn Braithwaite: Families & Wellbeing+ Q & A
3pm Prof. Emeritus Richard Dienstbier: Emotion, Affection, Meditation, & Wellbeing + Q & A
4pm Rev. Dr. Gretchen Woods: Co-Creating Healthy Communities & Wellbeing + Q & A
5pm Prof. Andrew J. Corsa: Magnanimity, Heroism, and Happiness + Q & A
5:45 Prof. W. Richard Walker: Pollyanna's Revenge: How Memory and Emotion Foster Happiness + Q & A

Creative Projects by Andrew Corsa

Empty Mirror, 2020

This is a non-academic essay published in the literary magazine titled Empy Mirror. My essay de... more This is a non-academic essay published in the literary magazine titled Empy Mirror. My essay describes my personal reflections and sensations in response to artwork created by Nastja Säde Rönkkö. Also, while not academic in its tone or approach, my essay also relates her artwork to the work of Heidegger and several (other) philosophers of technology, art, and environmental ethics. My essay can be found here: https://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/visual-art/nastja-sade-ronkko

I argue that we can think of the artists and participants in LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner's #TAKEMEAN... more I argue that we can think of the artists and participants in LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner's #TAKEMEANYWHERE as a tribe. I contend that, in a metaphorical sense, they are like their own, unique society, with a number of distinct characteristics.