Dr Christopher Earley

Research Overview

Contemporary art regularly challenges our moral, epistemic, political, and aesthetic expectations. Yet contemporary artists often also pursue similar ends to those working in other domains, attempting to unite their work with activism, scientific research, or historical inquiry. In these other domains breaking norms may be cause for censure. Yet regular exemption from norms is accepted and valued within the arts. I call this ‘artistic exceptionalism.’ The aim of my postdoctoral research project is to mount a philosophical investigation of this phenomenon. I aim to answer three questions: 1. What is artistic exceptionalism? 2. Why does normative exemption and experimentation flourish within the arts – especially contemporary art – when it is less widely encouraged in other domains? 3. How does the widespread acceptance of artistic exceptionalism impact art appreciation?

Alongside this, I am interested in questions about the relationship between art and epistemology, and questions in the somewhat under-studied area of philosophy of history.