Biography:Noël Carroll

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Noël Carroll
Carroll in 2005
Born1947 (age 78–79)
NationalityAmerican
EducationHofstra University (BA)
University of Pittsburgh (MA)
New York University (MA, PhD)
University of Illinois Chicago (MA, PhD)
Occupation
  • Philosopher
  • journalist
  • author
Spouse(s)Sally Banes (deceased)[1]
Partner(s)Joan Acocella (deceased)[2]

Noel Carroll (born December 25, 1947, in Far Rockaway, New York City)[3] is an American philosopher and a leading figure in the contemporary philosophy of art. In 2016 in Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog, he was ranked sixth in a list of the Best Anglophone Philosophers of Art post-1945.

He also works in the philosophies of particular artforms, including literature, painting, theater, dance and, most notably, cinema and television where he is a prominent proponent of cognitive theories of the moving image.[4] In addition, he has contributed to the theory of media, the philosophy of history, and the philosophy of the emotions.[5] Carroll has worked as a journalist, and has written five documentaries. Since 2007, he has held the position of distinguished professor in the philosophy program at the CUNY Graduate Center.[6]

Education

Carroll graduated from Hofstra University in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in philosophy. He gained three Master of Arts degrees in Philosophy, Cinema Studies, and Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh, New York University, and the University of Illinois Chicago, respectively. During his tenure at New York University, he completed his PhD with the dissertation "An In-Depth Analysis of Buster Keaton's The General".

He completed another PhD from the University of Illinois Chicago in 1983.

Career

Carroll holds two PhDs, one in cinema studies and the other in philosophy. From 1972 to 1988, he worked as a journalist covering film, theater, performance, and fine art for publications such as the Chicago Reader, Artforum, In These Times, Dance Magazine, SoHo Weekly News, and The Village Voice. Many of these early articles have been collected in his 2011 book Living in an Artworld.[7] He has also written five documentaries.[8]

Carroll has taught philosophy in a range of academic settings in the U.S. and abroad. Since 2007, he has been based at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York as distinguished professor.[9] Earlier, he held named professorships at Temple University and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and has also spent time teaching at institutions such as the University of Auckland, Cornell, Wesleyan, and Columbia.[10]

Philosophical works

One of Carroll's most well-known books is The Philosophy of Horror, or Paradoxes of the Heart (1990). It is an examination of the aesthetics of horror fiction (in novels, stories, radio and film).[11][12][13]

In A Philosophy of Mass Art (1998), Carroll offered a defense of mass-produced art forms such as cinema, radio, and television.[14] In On Criticism (2009), he presented a theory of art criticism and argued for its objectivity.[15]

His 2022 work Classics in the Western Philosophy of Art examines key figures in the Western philosophical tradition, including Plato, Aristotle, Hutcheson, Hume, Kant, Schopenhauer, Tolstoy, and Clive Bell, offering commentary on their contributions to aesthetics.[6]

Carroll has contributed to, while also sometimes initiating, discussions in the contemporary philosophy of art.[9][16] These include the definition of art,[7] moderate actual intentionalism, moderate moralism, the content-based approach to aesthetic experience, a purpose-driven model of art criticism, the characterization of aesthetic appreciation as a form of evaluative judgment, a definition of mass art, and arguments in support of the cognitive value of art.[11]

His work addresses topics such as philosophizing through artworks, anti-autonomism, the nature of the avant-garde, the ethics of racist humor, the relationship between art and emotion and mood,[5] narrative and fiction, medium-specificity in criticism, and the interplay between art and ideology.[17]

Theory of the moving image

Carroll's best-known book in this area of inquiry is his criticism of Marxist/psychoanalytic film theory, Mystifying Movies: Fads and Fallacies in Contemporary Film Theory (1988).[18] This book helped set the stage for the resurgence of the cognitive study of the moving image.[19] Carroll co-edited a book with David Bordwell called Post-Theory: Reconstructing Film Studies (1996) which challenged grand unified theories of cinema, such as Marxist/psychoanalytic film theory, in favor of middle-level research.[20]

In addition to his general contribution to the emergence of cognitivist approaches to the study of the moving image, Carroll has offered theories of suspense, point-of-view editing, the documentary, the image of women in film, the representation of race and ethnicity, film genres, the evaluation of motion pictures, and cinema style.[6]

Books about Carroll

Two academic monographs have been published focusing on Carroll's philosophical work. Noel Carroll by Hae-Won Lee (Communication Books, 2017) offers an introduction to his theories of art, narrative, and media, and was published in Korean.[5] Noel Carroll and Film: A Philosophy of Art and Popular Culture by Mario Slugan (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019) examines his influence on the philosophy of film and aesthetics, situating his work within broader debates in analytic philosophy and popular culture.[21]

Awards

Selected publications

Carroll is the author of more than two hundred articles and other works:[7]

Books

  • Philosophical Problems of Classical Film Theory, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1988.
  • Mystifying Movies: Fads and Fallacies in Contemporary Film Theory, New York, Columbia University Press, 1988.
  • The Philosophy of Horror, or Paradoxes of the Heart, New York, Routledge, 1990.
  • Theorizing the Moving Image, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996.
  • A Philosophy of Mass Art, New York, Oxford University Press, 1998.
  • Interpreting the Moving Image, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998.
  • Philosophy of Art: A Contemporary Introduction, New York, Routledge, 1999.
  • Beyond Aesthetics: Philosophical Essays, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2001.
  • Engaging the Moving Image, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2003.
  • Comedy Incarnate: Buster Keaton, Physical Humour and Bodily Coping, Malden, Blackwell Publishing, 2007.
  • The Philosophy of Motion Pictures, Malden, Blackwell Publishing, 2008.
  • On Criticism, London, Routledge, 2009.
  • Art in Three Dimensions, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2010.
  • Living in an Artworld: Reviews and Essays on Dance, Performance, Theater, and the Fine Arts in the 1970s and 190s, Louisville, KY: Chicago Spectrum Press, 2012.
  • Minerva's Night Out: Philosophy, Pop Culture, and Moving Pictures, Malden, Ma.: Blackwell Publishing, 2013.
  • Humour: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014.
  • Carroll on Theatre (Beijing, China: SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019).[3]
  • Carroll, Noël; Di Summa, Laura T.; Loht, Shawn, eds (2019). The Palgrave Handbook of the Philosophy of Film and Motion Pictures. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-19601-1. ISBN 978-3-030-19600-4. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19601-1. 
  • Movie-Made Philosophy: In Defense of the Possibility of Philosophizing through Films (Teheran, Iran: Niloofar Publisher, 2024).[3]
  • Philosophy and the Moving Image, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2020.[25]
  • Arthur Danto's Philosophy of Art: Essays, Boston, Brill, 2021.
  • Classics in Western Philosophy of Art, Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Company, 2022.[26]

Edited volumes

  • Post-Theory: Reconstructing Film Studies (edited with David Bordwell), Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1996.
  • Theories of Art Today, Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 2000.
  • Philosophy of Film and Motion Pictures (edited with Jinhee Choi), Malden, Blackwell Publishing, 2006.
  • Philosophy in the Twilight Zone (edited with Lester Hunt), Oxford, Blackwell, 2009.
  • The Poetics, Aesthetics and Philosophy of Narrative (edited with an introduction by Noël Carroll), Oxford, Blackwell, 2009.
  • Narrative, Emotion, and Insight, with John Gibson. Penn State University Press, 20011.[27]
  • Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Literature, with John Gibson, Routledge, 2016.[28]
  • The Palgrave Handbook of the Philosophy of Film and Motion Pictures , with Laura T. Di Summa, Shawn Loht, Palgrave macmillan, 2019.[29]
  • The Routledge Companion to the Philosophies of Painting and Sculpture, with Jonathan Gilmore, Routledge, 2023.[30]

Selected articles

See also

  • American philosophy
  • List of American philosophers

References

  1. ↑ Kourlas, Gia (21 June 2020). "Sally Banes, Distinguished Dance Critic and Historian, Dies at 69". https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/21/arts/dance/sally-banes-dead.html. 
  2. ↑ Sandomir, Richard (7 January 2024). "Joan Acocella, Dance Critic for The New Yorker, Dies at 78". https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/07/obituaries/joan-acocella-dead.html. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Noël Carroll". https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17943.No_l_Carroll. 
  4. ↑ "Noël Carroll - Biography" (in en-US). https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10617606/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "CUNY Scholars Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences" (in en). https://www.cuny.edu/news/cuny-scholars-elected-to-the-american-academy-of-arts-and-sciences/. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Carroll, Noël" (in en). https://www.gc.cuny.edu/people/noel-carroll. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "The Strange Case of Noël Carroll: A Conversation with the Controversial Film Philosopher • Senses of Cinema" (in en-US). 13 March 2002. http://sensesofcinema.com/2001/film-critics/carroll/. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Noël Carroll". https://www.gc.cuny.edu/Faculty/Core-Bios/Noel-Carroll. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "CUNY Graduate Center Scholars Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences" (in en). https://www.gc.cuny.edu/news/cuny-graduate-center-scholars-elected-american-academy-arts-and-sciences. 
  10. ↑ "Renowned film theorist talk set March 17". http://www1.udel.edu/PR/UDaily/2008/mar/movies030708.html. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Carroll, Noël (1990). The philosophy of horror: or, Paradoxes of the heart. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-90216-8. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/293103.The_Philosophy_of_Horror. 
  12. ↑ Carroll, Noel (2003-09-02) (in en). The Philosophy of Horror: Or, Paradoxes of the Heart. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-96503-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=FdwkAgAAQBAJ. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Best Anglophone philosophers of art post-1945: the results". http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2016/03/best-anglophone-philosophers-of-art-post-1945-the-results.html. 
  14. ↑ "A Philosophy of Mass Art by Noel Carroll | Issue 27 | Philosophy Now". https://philosophynow.org/issues/27/A_Philosophy_of_Mass_Art_by_Noel_Carroll. 
  15. ↑ "Criticism, in Six Parts: Noël Carroll" (in en). 2012-07-22. https://interactionculture.net/2012/07/22/criticism-in-six-parts-noel-carroll/. 
  16. ↑ reqdevtest (2014-11-17). "Some Questions on Aesthetics and Art | The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast | A Philosophy Podcast and Blog" (in en-US). https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/2014/11/17/some-questions-on-aesthetics-and-art/. 
  17. ↑ Carroll, Noël (1995). "Avant-Garde Art and the Problem of Theory". Journal of Aesthetic Education 29 (3): 1–13. doi:10.2307/3333533. ISSN 0021-8510. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3333533. 
  18. ↑ Plantinga, Carl (2002). "Cognitive Film Theory: An Insider’s Appraisal" Cinémas: Journal of Film Studies, vol. 12, n° 2, 2002, pp. 15–37.
  19. ↑ Carroll, Noël (2008-10-01) (in en), Engaging the Moving Image, Yale University Press, doi:10.12987/9780300133073, ISBN 978-0-300-13307-3, https://www.degruyterbrill.com:443/document/doi/10.12987/9780300133073/html?lang=en, retrieved 2025-05-01 
  20. ↑ https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/5af324dc-183c-4ef0-b3f9-d88a01e1e178/content Review of Post-Theory: Reconstructing Film Studies, edited by David Bordwell and Noël Carroll (Madison, Wisconsin: the University of Wisconsin Press, 1996) Evan Wm. Cameron
  21. ↑ "Noël Carroll and Film: A Philosophy of Art and Popular Culture 1786735407, 9781786735409" (in en). https://dokumen.pub/nol-carroll-and-film-a-philosophy-of-art-and-popular-culture-1786735407-9781786735409.html. 
  22. ↑ "John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | Noël Carroll" (in en-US). http://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/noel-carroll/. 
  23. ↑ "Five receive Guggenheims" (in en-US). 17 April 2002. https://news.wisc.edu/five-receive-guggenheims/. 
  24. ↑ "Noël Carroll". https://magazine.hofstra.edu/magazine/tag/noel-carroll/. 
  25. ↑ "Philosophy and the Moving Image - Noël Carroll". https://global.oup.com/academic/product/philosophy-and-the-moving-image-9780190683306. 
  26. ↑ "Classics in Western Philosophy of Art" (in en). https://hackettpublishing.com/classics-in-western-philosophy-of-art. 
  27. ↑ "Narrative, Emotion, and Insight Edited by Noël Carroll and John Gibson". https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-04857-4.html. 
  28. ↑ "The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Literature" (in en). https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Companion-to-Philosophy-of-Literature/Carroll-Gibson/p/book/9780367360399. 
  29. ↑ Carroll, Noël; Di Summa, Laura T.; Loht, Shawn, eds (2019) (in en). The Palgrave Handbook of the Philosophy of Film and Motion Pictures. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-19601-1. ISBN 978-3-030-19600-4. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-19601-1. 
  30. ↑ "The Routledge Companion to the Philosophies of Painting and Sculpture" (in en). https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Companion-to-the-Philosophies-of-Painting-and-Sculpture/Carroll-Gilmore/p/book/9781032320717. 

Sources

  • Mario Slugan, Noël Carroll and Film: A Philosophy of Art and Popular Culture. Bloomsbury, 2019.



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