Associate Professor Jennifer (Jenny) McMahon

Biography/ Background

Jenny McMahon has had a long association with the Arts, beginning her professional life as a visual artist, art critic, and educator in Melbourne before returning to study at Melbourne University in the late 1980s.   An interest in philosophy was the result and Jenny took up an Australian Postgraduate Research Scholarship to study Philosophy at the Australian National University in 1992.  Jenny McMahon received her PhD in Philosophy from the Australian National University in Canberra in 1997, lectured in Arts Education at the University of Canberra from 1996, before joining the Philosophy Department at the University of Adelaide in 2002.

Teaching Interests

Jenny's upper level courses are Beauty: Pleasures and Principles and Philosophy of Art.   She coordinates the Philosophy Discipline's largest first year course Argument and Critical Thinking, a course she has lectured in since 2002.  Since joining Philosophy at Adelaide, Jenny has taught in a range of courses from Introductory Logic and Moral Problems to Epistemology and Metaphysics and has regularly contributed lectures to courses in European Studies and Classics on art theory and ancient philosophy respectively.  At the graduate level, Jenny teaches courses on Kant’s Critique of Judgment and Neo-pragmatism.

Jenny supervises honours and post-graduate students in philosophy - aesthetics, neo-pragmatism, philosophy of art - and in art history/theory of art.  She has convened reading groups in Aesthetics and Neo-Pragmatism.

In 2010 Jenny was elected Head of Department.

Research Interests

 A number of philosophers have identified a relation between the structure of aesthetic and moral judgments concerning a tension between private and public, subjective and objective, and the individual and community.  Another related approach is to consider aesthetic and moral judgments as intertwined, in particular, treating the imaginative component of moral judgment (the images, conceptions and constructs which motivate and direct us) as involving aesthetic reflecting judgment.  I outline and analyse the structure of aesthetic judgment in contemporary terms in Aesthetics and Material Beauty (Routledge 2007, 2009).  In my forthcoming Art and Ethics in a Material World (Routledge 2013) I argue that the aesthetic or imaginative component of moral judgment need not be understood as irrational when grounded in community exchanges (and the constraints of giving and asking for reasons).  I demonstrate the point by discussing the creation and reception of contemporary art.  My examples are installation and video works created by artists Olafur Eliasson (Berlin), Mischa Kuball (Dusseldorf), Claire Healy & Sean Cordeiro (Sydney/Berlin), Doris Salcedo (Bogota) and Daniel von Sturmer (Melbourne).

Publications

 Books

 Sole Authored Monograph

Forthcoming 2013:  Art and Ethics in a Material World: Kant's Pragmatist Legacy.  Forthcoming in the "Routledge Studies in Ethics and Moral Theory Series".

2007: Aesthetics and Material Beauty: Aesthetics Naturalized. New York & London: Routledge. Published in the "Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy Series." E-book edition 2008; Paperback edition 2009.

 Reviews of Aesthetics and Material Beauty: 

• Paul Guyer, "The Harmony of the Faculites in Recent Books on the Critique of the Power of Judgment" the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 67:2 (2009): 201-221.

“I recommend it to all students of Kant’s aesthetics as well as to contemporary aestheticians. In my view, her work has contributed the most to the interpretation of the central concept of Kant’s aesthetics of any of the books under review.” (220)

 Professor Paul Guyer, Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania.

 

• Dan Vaillancourt, the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 68:1 (2010): 76-79.

“The book is highly recommended, not because its findings on beauty are definitive (the study of the brain and its functions is still an evolving field), but because its reading may spur a novel understanding of one of life's most fundamental experiences, beauty (79). It is a virtuoso performance (77).”
Professor Dan Vaillancourt, Philosophy, Loyola University Chicago.

• Glenn Parsons, Mind 119: 475 (2010): 827-30.

“McMahon’s approach to updating Kant’s account of beauty is an interesting one, and this book’s subject matter will intrigue both philosophers interested in Kantian aesthetics as well as philosophers generally interested in naturalism.” (829)
Dr. Glenn Parsons, Philosophy, Ryerson University, Canada.

• Michael Newall, ArtLink 28:2 (2008): 69.

“McMahon’s approach ... is vastly more sophisticated than that of neurophysiologists who have identified beauty with mechanisms such as the ‘peak-shift’ effect. ...she says enough to persuade me that her ‘naturalising’ approach – explaining phenomena in terms of physical structures and principles – yields substantial dividends in the case of beauty, one of the very toughest chestnuts in aesthetics. ...” (69)
Dr. Michael Newell, Philosophy/Art Theory, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

 

• Katerina Deligiorgi, The Australasian Journal of Philosophy Vol.89: 3 (2011) pp.560-562.

[T]he book’s claim on our interest is as an ambitious new theory of beauty. ... Despite my reservations about the success of the fusion of idealism and naturalism McMahon attempts in this book, she pursues her synthetic vision with verve and determination, claiming a place for constructive philosophy within a paradigm shaped by science, while also conveying forcefully the seriousness and importance of her topic.
(Dr. Katerina Deligiorgi, Philosophy, University of Sussex).

Chapters

Sole Author

2012 : "Beauty." In Oxford Bibliographies Online: Philosophy. Ed. Duncan Pritchard. New York: Oxford University Press, 29/08/2012, http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/

2007: Aesthetic Reflection and the Very Possibility of Art. In Ian North (Ed) Visual Animals: Crossovers, Evolution and New Aesthetics. Adelaide: Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia.

2005: Beauty in Berys Gaut and Dominic Lopes (eds), The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics (London: Routledge): 307-19.

2001: Beauty in Berys Gaut and Dominic Lopes (eds), The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics (London: Routledge): 227-38.

 

Journal Articles 

Philosophy (Field of Research)

2012: The Aesthetics of Perception: form as a sign of intention. Essays in Philosophy: Vol. 13 (2) pp.404-22. Edited by Cynthia Freeland. http://dx.doi.org/10.7710/1526-0569.1428
          Two commentaries on McMahon's paper by Cameron Buckner, and Justin L. Harmon.

2011: Aesthetic Autonomy and Praxis: Art and Language in Adorno and Habermas. International Journal of Philosophical Studies. Vol. 19 (2) 155-175.

2011: Critical Aesthetic Realism. Journal of Aesthetic Education. Vol. 45 (2) 49-69.

2011: Beauty as Harmony of the Soul: the Aesthetic of the Stoics, Greek Research in Australia: Proceedings of the Eighth Biennial International Conference Of Greek Studies 2009. Edited by Marietta Rosetto, Michael Tsianikas, George Couvalis and Maria Palaktsoglou. Adelaide: Flinders University, 33-42.  Greek Research In Australia, URL: http://dspace.flinders.edu.au/dspace/community-list

2011: "Aesthetic Autonomy: Tracing the Kantian Legacy to Olafur Eliasson", Proceedings of the European Society of Aesthetics, 2011.  edited by Fabian Dorsch, Jakob Stejskal and John Zeimbekis. Volume 3, pp.220-234.  URL: http://proceedings.eurosa.org/?p=25 

2010: The Classical Trinity and Kant's Aesthetic Formalism, Critical Horizons, Vol.11(3) 441-464.

2007: The Significance of Plato's Notions of Beauty and Pleasure in the Philosophy of Kant, Greek Research in Australia: Proceedings of the Sixth Biennial International Conference Of Greek Studies, Flinders University, pp.27-34.

2006: The Perceptual Constraints on Pictorial Realism, Contemporary Aesthetics, Vol.4, http://www.contempaesthetics.org/newvolume/pages/journal.php

2006: The Introduction to A Symposium on Pictorial Realism, Contemporary Aesthetics, Vol.4, http://www.contempaesthetics.org/newvolume/pages/journal.php

2003: Perceptual Constraints and Perceptual Schemata: The Possibility of Perceptual Style, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism (Blackwell Publishing). 61:3, summer, 259-72.

2000: Perceptual Principles as the Basis for Genuine Judgments of Beauty, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 7: 8-9, 29-35

1999: Towards a Unified Theory of Beauty, Literature and Aesthetics, 9: 7-27.

1996: Aesthetic Perception, Communication and Cognition (a special volume on Epistemology and Psychology), 29: 1, 37-64

 

Art History and Criticism (Field of Research)

2012: Deflating Metaphors and Emerging Contexts, The Adelaide Biennale 2012 Catalogue, Parallel Collisions, edited by Natasha Bullock and Alexie Glass-Kantor.  Art Gallery of South Australia: pp.194-98.

2011: The Shades in Platon's Mirror: the ethical, political and aesthetic in the art of Mischa Kuball.  Column 8, edited by Blair French, Artspace Visual Arts Centre, Sydney: pp.99-104.

2008-09:  Backing Kant with Interest: A Global Concept of Art, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 9:1/2. (Issue on 21st Century Art History): pp.90-99.

2008: The Romantic Spirit, Artlink: Australian Contemporary Art Quarterly 28: 2 Issue on Art, Beauty, Mind; ed. Margot Osborne: pp.13-15.

2002: An Explanation for Normal and Anomalous Drawing Ability and Some Implications for Research on Perception and Imagery, Visual Arts Research, (University of Illinois) 28:1 (55), 38-52.

2009:  'Of Being Beautifully Human', Catalogue Essay for This Life, Contemporary Visual Art Projects SA 2009: Project 8, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia.

 

Curriculum and Pedagogy (Field of Research)

1998: The Nature of Pictorial Representation: The Evidence from Cognitive Science, Australian Art Education (The Journal of the Australian Institute of Art Education), 21: 2, 27-35.

1998: An Unlikely Partnership: Philosophical Aesthetics and Educational Theory, Proceedings of the National Conference on Education,  Australian College of Education, Canberra.

1993: The Rationality of the Innate Foundations of Aesthetic Response, Australian Art Education, Australian Art Education, University of New South Wales, 16: 3, 18-28.

1989: Dewey's Educational Theory: The Relevance For Art Education, Australian Art Education, University of New South Wales, 13: 1, 11-16.

 

Psychology (FoR) Joint Author Article

2006: Vickers, D., Lee, M.D., Dry, M., Hughes, P., & McMahon, J.A. The aesthetic appeal of minimal structures: Judging the attractiveness of solutions to Traveling Salesperson problems, Perception & Psychophysics, 68:1, 32-42.

 

Book Reviews

2012: Review of Katherine Thomson-Jones, Aesthetics and Film (Continuum 2008) in Philosophical Quarterly, 62: 4, pp.865-67.

2011: Review of Paul Crowther, The Kantian Aesthetic: From Knowledge to the Avant-Garde (Oxford U. P. 2010) in British Journal of Aesthetics, 51:2, pp. 229-231.

2009: Review of Mark Johnson The Meaning of the Body: Aesthetics of Human Understanding (University of Chicago Press 2007) in Mind 118: 471, pp.843-46.

2006: Review of K. Matthews Revealing Art (Routledge 2005) in Philosophical Quarterly 56: 224, 471-73.

2006: Review of T. Heyd and J. Clegg (eds) Aesthetics and Rock Art (Ashgate, 2005) in British Journal of Aesthetics 46:2 , 208-10.

(2002) Review of Nick Zangwill, The Metaphysics of Beauty (Cambridge University Press, 2001) in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 60:4, 358-60.

(2002) Review of Paul Thom, Making Sense (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000) in the Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 80:1, 107-09.

(2001) Review of James Elkins. Our Beautiful; Dry and Distant Texts, Art History as Writing (Penn State University Press, 1997) in the Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 79: 1, 142-143.

(2001) James Kirwan, Beauty (Manchester University Press, 1999) in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 59:3, 334-336.

(2000) Commentary on Semir Zeki's Inner Vision: An Exploration of Art and the Brain, Leonardo Reviews On-Line http://www.leonardo.info/reviews/sep2000/bk_INNVIS_mcmahon.htmll

(1999) Review of Patricia M.Matthews. The Significance of Beauty. Kant on Feeling and the System of the Mind (Dordrecht; Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997) in Philosophy in Review, 19(2) (April), 129-130.

(1999) Review of David E. Cooper (ed), Aesthetics The Classic Readings (Oxford; Blackwell, 1997) in the Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Vol.77:1, March, pp.119-120.

(1998) Review of Colin Lyas, Aesthetics: The Fundamentals of Philosophy (London; University College London Press, 1997) in the Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Vol.76:4, December, 1998. pp.647-649.

 

 Invitations to Speak

2012    Invited Speaker. Artists' Week. "Seeing Into Ubiquity" Adelaide Festival of the Arts. Convenor: Victoria Lynn.

2012    Invited to present "Themes from Cavell: Improvisation, Fraudulence and Intention" to the Themes from Cavell Conference, University of Sydney. Convenor: David Macarthur.

2012    Invited speaker "Visions of What Could Be", Art Gallery of South Australia Autumn Lecture Series. Convenor: David O'Connor.

2012   Books and Arts Daily, ABC Radio National, March 7th, interviewed by Michael Cathcart on Beauty. http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksandartsdaily/the-idea-of-beauty/3870838

2012    Invited respondent to Anthony Uhlmann on "Meaning in Art and Meaning in Nature", JM Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice, University of Adelaide. Convenor: Nicholas Jose.

2011    Invited Speaker. Symposium in association with an exhibition of work by German artist Mischa Kuball at Artspace, Sydney, August 26, 1-4pm. "Mirrors, Doubles, Shadows, Caves: Plato and Contemporary Art." Convenor: Blair French.

2011    Invited Speaker. Art Gallery of South Australia. Forum - In Bed with Tracey Emin. Saatchi Gallery in Adelaide. Convenor: David O'Connor.

2010     Invited Speaker. Symposium: Interpreting and Assessing Kant's Critique of the Power of Judgment, American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division, San Francisco. Convenor Professor David Hills (Stanford University).

2010     Invited Symposium on Kant's Aesthetic Formalism, Australasian Association of Philosophy Conference, UNSW. Convenor Dr. James Philips (UniNSW)

2010     Key note address to the Graduation Ceremony at the Adelaide Central School of Art.

2009  Guest speaker, Fine Art Academy of Berlin (Olafur Eliasson's Studio).

2009  Guest speaker, Philosophy and Aesthetics Research Group, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.

2008  Philosopher's Zone, Saturday 23rd February, ABC Radio National.

2007  A symposium on Bio-aesthetics at the Art Gallery of South Australia.

2006  Guest speaker on Australia Talks Back, ABC Radio National, 13th July on the topic of Beauty.

2004  American Society of Aesthetics Conference, Pacific Division, California, USA.

2003  Invited to participate in a symposium on the Nature of Beauty by National Science Week Festival Canberra. Broadcast on All in the Mind, Radio National, Sunday 24th August at 1.00 and Wednesday 27th August at 2.00.

2000  Public lecture entitled: "Aesthetics and Cognitive Science: Illuminating Each Other" at the University of Houston. Organized jointly by the Department of Philosophy and the Cognitive Science initiative, University of Houston.

 

Selection of Recent Paper Presentations

 

2011    "Aesthetic Autonomy: Tracing the Kantian Legacy to Olafur Eliasson" to the European Society of Aesthetics, Grenoble, France.

2011    "The Meta-Ethical Dimension of Art: Eliasson's Art and Kant's Sensus Communis" to the Eye and Mind, Interdisciplinary Research Forum, (Art History and Philosophy), University College Cork, Ireland. Convenors: Julia Jansen & Ed Krcma.

2011    "The Meta-Ethical Dimension of Art: Eliasson's Art and Kant's Sensus Communis" to the Philosophy Department, National University of Ireland, Galway, convened by Paul Crowther. 

2011      "The Aesthetics of Emotion", presented to the Interdisciplinary Collaboratory ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of the Emotions, Change Program, University of Adelaide.  Convenors: David Lemmings and Ann Brookes.

2010    “Before Art Ended: Reuniting Art with Meta-ethics through the work of Olafur Eliasson”, American Society of Aesthetics, Pacific Division, Asilomar,  Pacific Grove, USA.

2010  "Aesthetic Autonomy: Adorno, Habermas and olafur Eliasson." To a Symposiusm on Art history and Philosophy at the 2010 Art Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference, Adelaide.

 

2009    “The Metaphysics of Aesthetic Autonomy: ”, presented to the Australasian Association of Philosophy, Melbourne University.

2009     “Beauty as harmony of the soul: the aesthetic of the Stoics”, presented to Eighth International Conference on Greek Research, Flinders University, Adelaide.

2009    “Aesthetic Autonomy: The Origins of Normative Pragmatics in Critical Theory”, presented to the Images of a Demystified World: Critical Theory Conference, John Cabot University, May 13-15, Rome, Italy.

2009    “Aesthetic Autonomy in Adorno and Habermas”, presented to the Australasian Society for Continental Philosophy, Nov-Dec, Monash, Melbourne.

 

 

Professional Associations

Member of the Advisory Committee of the Aesthetics Research Centre at the University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.

Assessor for the Australian Research Council since 1999-2007; OzReader 2008-2010.

Examiner for PhD and Masters theses.

Referee for range of philosophical journals and a selection of art historical and psychology journals.

Academic Board Member, Adelaide Central School of Art 2010 cont.

Member of the following organizations, presenting at their conferences, publishing, refereeing and writing book reviews for their associated journals:

 American Philosophical Association

American Society of Aesthetics

Aristotelian Mind Society, UK

Art Association of Australia and New Zealand

Australasian Association of Philosophy

Australasian Society for Continental Philosophy

British Society of Aesthetics

European Society of Aesthetics

Sydney Society of Literature and Aesthetics

 

Consultancies

2010-12   Chief Examiner for South Australian Universities' Foundation Studies Program in Argument and Critical Thinking at Eynesbury College.

2002  Expert Witness on School Bullying, David Hooper Solicitor, Sydney NSW.

2001  Expert Witness on School Bullying, The Hargreaves Practice, Sydney NSW.

1999-2000  Research Circles Project-National Schools Network.

1998  Mediator:appointment dispute for the Catholic EducationOffice,Canberra.

1998  Expert Witness, Duty of Care in schools, NSW Crown Solicitor's Office.

 

Art Exhibitions

1981  Niagara Galleries, Melbourne.

1981  Capital Permanent Art Award, Geelong Art Gallery (Geelong, Vic).

1983  Niagara Galleries, Melbourne.

1984  Roar Galleries, Brunswick St. (Fitzroy, Melbourne).

 

Files

• The_Very_Possibility_of_Art.pdf [48.1K] (application/pdf)
• Literature_aesthetics.pdf [78.1K] (application/pdf)
• BEAUTY_2005.pdf [49.9K] (application/pdf)
• Beauty_Pleasure_Plato_Kant.pdf [37.1K] (application/pdf)
• ReviewThom.pdf [13.9K] (application/pdf)
• Review_0f_Elkins.pdf [8.5K] (application/pdf)
• ReviewofZangwill.pdf [19.3K] (application/pdf)
• ReviewKant.pdf [9.1K] (application/pdf)
• ReviewZeki.pdf [14.9K] (application/pdf)
• ReviewMatthewKieran_RevealingArt.pdf [19.4K] (application/pdf)
• ReviewBeauty.pdf [13.4K] (application/pdf)
• review_rock_art.pdf [123.8K] (application/pdf)

Expertise for Media Contact

Categories	Arts and culture
Expertise	visual art; beauty; art and ethics
Notes	I have spoken live on ABC Radio on Beauty (All in the Mind 2003, Philosopher's Zone 2008, and Australia talks back 2006). While lecturing in the Edcuation Faculty at the University of Canberra, I was expert witness on a number of occasions for duty of care in secondary school art classrooms in NSW (NSW Crown Solicitor's Office, Hargreaves Practice NSW, David Hooper Solicitor NSW).

Entry last updated: Sunday, 30 Sep 2012