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Conference Presentations by Armen Marsoobian
The Central European Pragmatist Forum is grateful for the support of the Department of Philosophy... more The Central European Pragmatist Forum is grateful for the support of the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage of the Università Ca’Foscari.
Papers by Armen Marsoobian
Philosophy in Experience, 2020
Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Genocide and Memory, 2018
We often acknowledge and memorialize events of human suffering through works of art. This sometim... more We often acknowledge and memorialize events of human suffering through works of art. This sometimes begins as a personal statement, as was the case with Picasso's Guernica. Oftentimes such acknowledgments take the form of a national statement, such as the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas) in Berlin. The Berlin memorial raises challenging moral and aesthetic questions regarding the memorializing function of such public monuments. What sorts of experiences are such memorials intended to evoke in the viewer? Is there a tension between the aesthetic experience and the "real" emotions such memorials engender? Does the didactic nature of such works rest comfortably with their aesthetic function? Are these functions mutually exclusive? Such questions are addressed in this chapter. Keywords Public memorials • Jochen Gerz • John Dewey • Noël Carroll • Holocaust • Counter-monument • Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe • Aesthetics • Modernism • Marian Marzynski • Peter Eisenman • James E. Young Memorial art brings into sharp focus a tension prevalent in much art and art talk since the rise of Modernism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This is a tension between theories of art that claim art's primary defining function is to engender aesthetic experience and those theories that claim art has a broader social function, one in which cultural and moral values are transmitted or critiqued. The former has been called the aesthetic theory of art, while the latter the social utility theory of art. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden
This chapter describes and analyzes an ongoing project of memorialization of the Armenian Genocid... more This chapter describes and analyzes an ongoing project of memorialization of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey. It explores the importance of memorialization for collective historical memory, especially in situations where historical memory has been subverted by genocide denial. Among many aspects of memorialization, its role in bearing witness is explored and highlighted. Three components of the memory project are described: (1) the photography exhibitions, (2) the publications, and (3) the creation of memory sites. The project centers on the story of the Dildilian family in Ottoman Turkey before, during, and after the genocide, covering the years 1872–1923. A microhistory of the life of the Armenian minority is chronicled by means of the personal memories and stories of members of the family. The history is richly illustrated with photographs and drawings that serve as the basis of the photography exhibitions and books. Exhibitions and associated talks and panels have taken place in...
The Blackwell Guide to American Philosophy
Identity and Social Transformation, 2011
wisdom, 2015
This essay is a meditation on memory and democracy. I will argue that democracy as a way of life ... more This essay is a meditation on memory and democracy. I will argue that democracy as a way of life is conditioned upon how well a community remembers its past. The concept of democracy as a way of life, as distinct from a particular form of governance, has its origins in the political philosophy of John Dewey. I will approach this issue in a somewhat roundabout manner. In the first part, I will examine a series of Dewey’s writings from the early 1920s that resulted from his visit of the newly established Republic of Turkey. I contend that the serious shortcomings in Dewey’s analysis of Turkish state nation-building highlight deficiencies in his otherwise laudable and nuanced democratic theory. In the second part, I provide a more sustained analysis of the role of collective memory within a community, especially one that aspires to a democratic way of life. I will then conclude with a few reflections upon issues arising from Turkish collective memory as it relates to the Armenian Geno...
wisdom, 2016
The 1950s and `60s saw a struggle in American academic philosophy between a philosophical traditi... more The 1950s and `60s saw a struggle in American academic philosophy between a philosophical tradition that maintained a central role for the history of philosophy along with an openness to diverse philosophical methods and an ascendant analytic approach that marginalized its own history and restricted the scope of philosophy to self-generated philosophical problems. Columbia University in this period, while marked by these tensions, still provided a fertile ground for generating teacher-philosophers whose pedagogy reflected a deep and serious respect for history and philosophical pluralism. John Herman Randall Jr. and Justus Buchler were two of the central figures who fostered such an environment in Columbia’s Philosophy Department. Joseph P. Fell was a product of this environment and brought these traits to his classroom at Bucknell University. Playing off of Hegel’s insights into history, this essay will reflect upon the philosophies of Randall and Buchler with an eye toward pedagog...
Metaphilosophy, 2016
Theoretical course is the necessary element of college courses which helps students understand im... more Theoretical course is the necessary element of college courses which helps students understand important concepts, ideas and theories of certain discipline. However, being abstract and difficult in nature, theoretical classes have become a hard nut for both teachers and students to crack. Currently, with the development of technology, flipped teaching has become a popular trend. This paper, with English linguistics as an example, explores how flipped learning can be carried out in a theoretical class as an innovation and provides strategies for both the teacher and students in the flipped classroom
Fragments of a Lost Homeland, 2015
Semiotic Crossroads, 1994
Newsletter of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, 2004
Agriculture and Human Values, 1990
Armen Marsoobian is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Southern Connecticut State University. H... more Armen Marsoobian is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Southern Connecticut State University. He is an editor for the journal Metaphilosophy. His research is in the areas of aesthetics, metaphysics and American philosophy. He co-edited the second, expanded edition of Justus Bulcher's philosophy entitled Nature's Perspectives: Prospects for OrdinalMetaphysics. He is currently working on two books, one on the metaphysics of John Dewey and another on a general theory of aesthetic meaning. ABSTRACT This paper provides an analysis of John Dewey's appreciation of the effects of the emergence of agriculture on the patterns of Western thought. It shows the role played by this agrarian theme in Dewey's own critique of the dominant values inherent in Western metaphysics.
Agric Human Values, 1990
Armen Marsoobian is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Southern Connecticut State University. H... more Armen Marsoobian is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Southern Connecticut State University. He is an editor for the journal Metaphilosophy. His research is in the areas of aesthetics, metaphysics and American philosophy. He co-edited the second, expanded edition of Justus Bulcher's philosophy entitled Nature's Perspectives: Prospects for OrdinalMetaphysics. He is currently working on two books, one on the metaphysics of John Dewey and another on a general theory of aesthetic meaning. ABSTRACT This paper provides an analysis of John Dewey's appreciation of the effects of the emergence of agriculture on the patterns of Western thought. It shows the role played by this agrarian theme in Dewey's own critique of the dominant values inherent in Western metaphysics.
The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 1996
The Central European Pragmatist Forum is grateful for the support of the Department of Philosophy... more The Central European Pragmatist Forum is grateful for the support of the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage of the Università Ca’Foscari.
Philosophy in Experience, 2020
Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Genocide and Memory, 2018
We often acknowledge and memorialize events of human suffering through works of art. This sometim... more We often acknowledge and memorialize events of human suffering through works of art. This sometimes begins as a personal statement, as was the case with Picasso's Guernica. Oftentimes such acknowledgments take the form of a national statement, such as the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas) in Berlin. The Berlin memorial raises challenging moral and aesthetic questions regarding the memorializing function of such public monuments. What sorts of experiences are such memorials intended to evoke in the viewer? Is there a tension between the aesthetic experience and the "real" emotions such memorials engender? Does the didactic nature of such works rest comfortably with their aesthetic function? Are these functions mutually exclusive? Such questions are addressed in this chapter. Keywords Public memorials • Jochen Gerz • John Dewey • Noël Carroll • Holocaust • Counter-monument • Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe • Aesthetics • Modernism • Marian Marzynski • Peter Eisenman • James E. Young Memorial art brings into sharp focus a tension prevalent in much art and art talk since the rise of Modernism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This is a tension between theories of art that claim art's primary defining function is to engender aesthetic experience and those theories that claim art has a broader social function, one in which cultural and moral values are transmitted or critiqued. The former has been called the aesthetic theory of art, while the latter the social utility theory of art. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden
This chapter describes and analyzes an ongoing project of memorialization of the Armenian Genocid... more This chapter describes and analyzes an ongoing project of memorialization of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey. It explores the importance of memorialization for collective historical memory, especially in situations where historical memory has been subverted by genocide denial. Among many aspects of memorialization, its role in bearing witness is explored and highlighted. Three components of the memory project are described: (1) the photography exhibitions, (2) the publications, and (3) the creation of memory sites. The project centers on the story of the Dildilian family in Ottoman Turkey before, during, and after the genocide, covering the years 1872–1923. A microhistory of the life of the Armenian minority is chronicled by means of the personal memories and stories of members of the family. The history is richly illustrated with photographs and drawings that serve as the basis of the photography exhibitions and books. Exhibitions and associated talks and panels have taken place in...
The Blackwell Guide to American Philosophy
Identity and Social Transformation, 2011
wisdom, 2015
This essay is a meditation on memory and democracy. I will argue that democracy as a way of life ... more This essay is a meditation on memory and democracy. I will argue that democracy as a way of life is conditioned upon how well a community remembers its past. The concept of democracy as a way of life, as distinct from a particular form of governance, has its origins in the political philosophy of John Dewey. I will approach this issue in a somewhat roundabout manner. In the first part, I will examine a series of Dewey’s writings from the early 1920s that resulted from his visit of the newly established Republic of Turkey. I contend that the serious shortcomings in Dewey’s analysis of Turkish state nation-building highlight deficiencies in his otherwise laudable and nuanced democratic theory. In the second part, I provide a more sustained analysis of the role of collective memory within a community, especially one that aspires to a democratic way of life. I will then conclude with a few reflections upon issues arising from Turkish collective memory as it relates to the Armenian Geno...
wisdom, 2016
The 1950s and `60s saw a struggle in American academic philosophy between a philosophical traditi... more The 1950s and `60s saw a struggle in American academic philosophy between a philosophical tradition that maintained a central role for the history of philosophy along with an openness to diverse philosophical methods and an ascendant analytic approach that marginalized its own history and restricted the scope of philosophy to self-generated philosophical problems. Columbia University in this period, while marked by these tensions, still provided a fertile ground for generating teacher-philosophers whose pedagogy reflected a deep and serious respect for history and philosophical pluralism. John Herman Randall Jr. and Justus Buchler were two of the central figures who fostered such an environment in Columbia’s Philosophy Department. Joseph P. Fell was a product of this environment and brought these traits to his classroom at Bucknell University. Playing off of Hegel’s insights into history, this essay will reflect upon the philosophies of Randall and Buchler with an eye toward pedagog...
Metaphilosophy, 2016
Theoretical course is the necessary element of college courses which helps students understand im... more Theoretical course is the necessary element of college courses which helps students understand important concepts, ideas and theories of certain discipline. However, being abstract and difficult in nature, theoretical classes have become a hard nut for both teachers and students to crack. Currently, with the development of technology, flipped teaching has become a popular trend. This paper, with English linguistics as an example, explores how flipped learning can be carried out in a theoretical class as an innovation and provides strategies for both the teacher and students in the flipped classroom
Fragments of a Lost Homeland, 2015
Semiotic Crossroads, 1994
Newsletter of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, 2004
Agriculture and Human Values, 1990
Armen Marsoobian is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Southern Connecticut State University. H... more Armen Marsoobian is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Southern Connecticut State University. He is an editor for the journal Metaphilosophy. His research is in the areas of aesthetics, metaphysics and American philosophy. He co-edited the second, expanded edition of Justus Bulcher's philosophy entitled Nature's Perspectives: Prospects for OrdinalMetaphysics. He is currently working on two books, one on the metaphysics of John Dewey and another on a general theory of aesthetic meaning. ABSTRACT This paper provides an analysis of John Dewey's appreciation of the effects of the emergence of agriculture on the patterns of Western thought. It shows the role played by this agrarian theme in Dewey's own critique of the dominant values inherent in Western metaphysics.
Agric Human Values, 1990
Armen Marsoobian is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Southern Connecticut State University. H... more Armen Marsoobian is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Southern Connecticut State University. He is an editor for the journal Metaphilosophy. His research is in the areas of aesthetics, metaphysics and American philosophy. He co-edited the second, expanded edition of Justus Bulcher's philosophy entitled Nature's Perspectives: Prospects for OrdinalMetaphysics. He is currently working on two books, one on the metaphysics of John Dewey and another on a general theory of aesthetic meaning. ABSTRACT This paper provides an analysis of John Dewey's appreciation of the effects of the emergence of agriculture on the patterns of Western thought. It shows the role played by this agrarian theme in Dewey's own critique of the dominant values inherent in Western metaphysics.
The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 1996