‘W&L After Class’ Podcast Releases New Episode Featuring Angela Sun To kick off the seventh season of “W&L After Class,” assistant professor of philosophy Angela Sun reflects on aesthetics from the lens of her field of research.
Hosted by James Lambert, director of Lifelong Learning, the latest episode of the “W&L After Class” podcast launches a new thematic approach for its seventh season. Faculty members are invited to explore a shared foundational idea from their own disciplinary perspectives. This season’s guiding question is “What is beauty?”
Sun, who has taught at Washington and Lee University for four years, brings a background that bridges philosophy and aesthetics. She earned her doctorate at the University of Michigan and holds a B.A. in philosophy and architecture from Wellesley College, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and spent a year as a visiting student in philosophy and the history of art at the University of Oxford. Sun’s research spans ethics, philosophy of action and aesthetics, with published work in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism and ongoing projects on integrity, resolutions and moral agency. At W&L, she teaches courses in aesthetics, moral and political philosophy, philosophy of race and decision theory. In this episode, Sun reflects on how philosophy first drew her in.
“The first philosophy class I took my freshman year felt like a breath of fresh air,” she said. “I just didn’t know that I could think about topics like ethics and art and metaphysics with the kind of analytic rigor that is characteristic of a lot of scientific thinking, but direct that toward topics that I cared really deeply about.”
Throughout the conversation, Sun challenges the assumption that beauty is either fully subjective or wholly objective. While beauty may originate in individual perception, she argues, humans are still capable of meaningful agreement and shared aesthetic experiences.
“One thing that is pretty incredible about humans,” Sun said, “is that we can have experiences that are fundamentally subjective, but that we can share with one another.”
The episode also touches on teaching, learning and the liberal arts, with Sun emphasizing the role aesthetics plays in everyday student life, from music and fashion to film and personal style.
“Ultimately, in all my classes,” she said, “I really see my job as helping students … cultivate rich inner lives that are going to sustain them spiritually for the rest of their lives.”
New episodes of “W&L After Class” will continue to unpack the theme of beauty throughout the season, inviting listeners to hear Washington and Lee faculty think aloud about one of humanity’s oldest and most enduring questions.
Listen to the conversation here.
In the cue: Listen to past episodes from the last six seasons of “W&L After Class” on Lifelong Learning’s webpage.
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