David Goldblatt
David Goldblatt is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, recognized for his contributions to the philosophy of the arts, including architectural theory. A professor at Denison University for nearly four decades (1968–2004), Goldblatt’s career spanned a diverse array of intellectual and artistic interests. His work encompassed core philosophical issues and interdisciplinary engagement, integrating insights from architecture, film, music, and literature into his philosophical inquiries. His scholarship bridges continental and analytic traditions, academic discourse and broader public understanding of the arts.
Early Life and Education
Born and raised in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, New York, Goldblatt began his academic work at Pratt Institute’s School of Architecture and then at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in philosophy in 1963. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania in 1972, with a dissertation on the later writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein.
During his graduate studies at Penn, Goldblatt served as a Teaching Fellow. His coursees included an en early Black Studies offering, The Philosophy of the Black Revolution. He later returned to Penn to address the Stuart Weitzman School of Design and served as a critic and juror for graduate school final projects.
At Denison University, Goldblatt taught a wide range of courses, including social and political philosophy, ethical theory, and advanced seminars on Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, the philosophy of architecture, and philosophical issues in film. He also taught at Zhejiang University of Technology in Hangzhou, China (1999–2000), and spent a Robert C. Good Fellowship at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.
Scholarly Publications and Research
Goldblatt’s scholarly output spans several decades and includes works spanning philosophy and the arts. His book Jazz and the Philosophy of the Arts, co-authored with Lee B. Brown and Theodore Gracyk (Routledge, 2017)[1], explores jazz as a deeply embedded American cultural form, tracing its evolution from early dance music through bebop and small-venue performance, and examining its philosophical implications in comparison with other musical traditions.
His long-running anthology Aesthetics: A Reader in Philosophy of the Arts (4th edition), co-edited with Lee B. Brown and Stephanie Patridge, has had a sustained presence in the field of aesthetics, notable for essays on vernacular, anonymous, and underrated art forms alongside canonical texts.[2]
Goldblatt’s other anthology, The Aesthetics of Architecture: Philosophical Investigations into the Art of Building(Wiley/Blackwell, 2011), co-edited with Roger Paden, focused on architectural aesthetics,[3] and is complemented by numerous related journal articles, including “Modern to Postmodern Architecture” to the Oxford Encyclopedia of Aesthetics. His scholarly articles and essays address topics such as the aesthetics of movie stars, the ontology of architectural style, and intersections between philosophy and film. His work has appeared in journals such as The McNeese Review, Philosophy and Literature, Philosophy and Film, Architectural Design, Contemporary Aesthetics, The Southern Journal of Philosophy, and The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, where he published six essays, including the notable “Self-Plagiarism and Improvisation in Architecture.”
Goldblatt’s book Art and Ventriloquism (Routledge, 2005), published in the Critical Voices series edited by Saul Ostrow with an introduction by Garry Hagberg, examines ventriloquism as a performance art and uses it as a metaphor for issues of vocality and selfhood. The book includes essays on Socrates, early Nietzsche, Foucault, Stanley Cavell, and architect Peter Eisenman.[4] This work has also been referenced in the British opera Before Sleep at the End of Love by Sarah Hardie.
Academic Service and Creative Work
Goldblatt has been an active participant in academic conferences and panels worldwide, among them serving as co-editor of the Newsletter of the American Society of Aesthetics and member of the Board of Directors of Contemporary Aesthetics. He has also engaged in creative endeavors, including writing fiction and poetry, and has worked as an architectural critic and juror. His commitment to intellectual curiosity, critical thinking, and creative expression left a lasting mark on Denison University, where he was known for challenging students to think deeply, question assumptions, and engage with profound philosophical and artistic questions.
References
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- ↑ Brown, Lee B.; Goldblatt, David; Gracyk, Theodore (2018). Jazz and the philosophy of art. New York, [New York] Abingdon: Routledge, Taylor & Francis group. ISBN 978-1-138-24136-7. Search this book on
- ↑ Goldblatt, David; Brown, Lee B.; Patridge, Stephanie, eds. (2018). Aesthetics: a reader in philosophy of the arts (Fourth edition ed.). New York London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN 978-1-138-23588-5.CS1 maint: Date and year (link) CS1 maint: Extra text (link) Search this book on
- ↑ Goldblatt, David; Paden, Roger, eds. (2011). The Aesthetics of Architecture: Philosophical Investigations into the Art of Building. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4443-3972-7. Search this book on
- ↑ Goldblatt, David; Hagberg, Garry, eds. (2006). Art and ventriloquism. Critical voices in art, theory and culture. London New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-37059-2. Search this book on
