Sarah Worth

Professor of Philosophy

Curriculum Vitae
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I was born and raised in Ann Arbor Michigan, and I knew when I went to college that I needed a small school, and I needed to be someplace warm. I chose Furman because of the strength of their music department and as Furman does its work of the liberal arts, I left with a degree in both music and philosophy. I loved the inquiry into the mind I experienced through philosophy and decided to continue to graduate school first for a masters at the University of Louisville and then a PhD at SUNY Buffalo. I taught at Allegheny College and Miami University before returning to Furman in 1999.

I am married to Bill Price, who worked in the ROTC department at Furman for 13 years, and the proud mother of twin boys, William and Charles.

Education

  • Ph.D., State University of New York at Buffalo, 1997
  • M.A., University of Louisville, 1994
  • B.A., Furman University, 1992

Research Interests

I work in the field of philosophical aesthetics. My initial interest was in the philosophy of music, but I quickly became interested in topics related to fiction and narrative (and wrote a book called In Defense of Reading, 2017). I started teaching a Philosophy of Food course about 10 years ago which has turned into one of the most fun classes I teach, but it led to a Study Away class for Furman called Slow Food: Italian Style, and from those experiences, I wrote another book called Taste: A Philosophy of Food, 2021. Just recently I submitted a book that is an anthology of readings for an Aesthetics class that is called Living Debates in Aesthetics. This is a collection of essays written by all living authors, about contemporary issues in aesthetics, and with an intentionally diverse set of authors. My next project is called Drinkin and Thinkin--philosophy and inebriation. It will be a book about the ways in which liquid inebriants (beer, wine, spirits, coffee and tea) have changed the way philosophy was done in particular places in history. Hopefully that will be finished after my next sabbatical.

Publications

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

  • “Ladies Reading and Writing: Penelope and Eloise and their fates as intellectuals.” Co-authored with Sondra Bacharach). In Bridgerton and Philosophy. Ed. Jessica Miller. (Blackwell: 2026).
  • “Maus: a case study in censorship” Ed. Darren Hick. In Bloomsbury Aesthetics Cases—online portal. 2023.
  • “Olive Oil: a case study.” Ed. Darren Hick. In Bloomsbury Aesthetics Cases—online portal. 2022.
  • “Epicurus, Pleasure, and the 21st century Diet.” Co-authored with Ben Davids (student). The Journal of Aesthetic Education. Fall 2021.
  • “Narrative Justice and Narrative Healing: Giving Story and Voice to Transitional Justice.” Contemporary Aesthetics. Revise and resubmit.
  • “Bad Taste and the Good Place.” Co-authored with Darren Hudson Hick. The Good Place and Philosophy. (Blackwell, 2020): 213-223.
  • “In Defense of Genreblending.” With Sean McBratnie. Aesthetic Investigations. Vol. 1 (2015): 33-48.
  • "Hannah Arendt on Thinking and its Relation to Evil." Inherent and Instrumental Values: Excursions in Value Inquiry. (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2015.)
  • “Narration, Representation, Memoir, Truth, and Lies: How We Diminish the Art of Narrative with Simple Truths” in How to Make Believe: The Fictional Truths of the Representational Arts. Bareis, J. Alexander / Nordrum, Lene (eds.): Berlin, New York: DeGruyter, 2015.
  • “Fact, Fiction, and Fraud: From Frey to Wilkomirski.” Southwest Philosophy Review. Vol. 26, No. 1. (2010) 27-33. Response article: Anne-Marie Bowery.
  • “Comments on Sarah Worth’s ‘Fact Fiction and Fraud.” Southwest Philosophy Review. Vol 26. No. 2. July, 2010. 1-4.
  • "Plato, Imitation, and Narration: a look into the narrative effects of literature," Journal of Norwegian Philosophy. Vol. 43, No.2, (2008) 162-174.
  • "Story-Telling and Narrative Knowing," Journal of Aesthetic Education. Vol. 42, No 3, (2008) 42-55.
  • “The Dangers of Da Vinci, or The Power of Popular Fiction.” Philosophy and the Contemporary World. Vol. 14, No. 1 (Spring 2007) 134-143.
  • “Narrative Understanding and Understanding Narrative,” Contemporary Aesthetics 2 (2004).Contempaesthetics.org.
  • “Fictional Spaces,” Philosophical Forum. Vol. 35. No. 4, (Winter 2004) 439-455.
  • “The Ethics of Exhibition: On the Presentation of Religious Art,” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 62 (2004) 277-284.
  • “Thomas Munro vs. the All American Blue Dishwasher,” The Journal of Aesthetic Education 36 (2002): 68-85.
  • “Aristotle, Thought and Emotion: Our Responses to Fiction,” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 58 (2000): 333-340.
  • “Understanding Objects of Music,” The Journal of Aesthetic Education 34 (2000): 102-107.
  • “Wittgenstein’s Musical Understanding,” British Journal of Aesthetics 37 (1997): 158-167. Reprinted with permission in Southwestern Journal of Philosophy 13 (1997): 101-111.
    Book Chapters
  • “Narration, Representation, Memoir, Truth, and Lies: How We Diminish the Art of Narrative with Simple Truths” in How to Make Believe: The Fictional Truths of the Representational Arts. Bareis, J. Alexander / Nordrum, Lene (eds.): Berlin, New York: DeGruyter, 2014.
  • “Nonfiction and Narration.” Fiction as an Aesthetic Concept. Praeger Publishers. Forthcoming, 2014.
  • “Dungeons and Dragons: What it is and Why we do it” co-authored with Carl Ehrett. Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy. Open Court Press, 2012. pp. 195-205.
  • “Global Standpoint Aesthetics: Toward a Paradigm.” Co-authored with David I. Gandolfo. The Continuum Companion to Aesthetics. Edited by Anna Ribeiro. Continuum Publishing: New York, p. 242-254, 2012.
  • "Lessons Learned by a Philosopher and a Biologist in Team Teaching a First-Year Seminar on 'Disease and Culture: Why You Are a Walking Petri Dish.'" Co- authored with Min-Ken Liao. Team Teaching. Ed. Kathryn M. Plank. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, 2011. pp., 37-53.
  • “Dexter Morgan: Morality, Principles and Context,” Co-authored with Carmela Epright. Dexter and Philosophy. Ed. Richard Greene. Open Court Press, 2011. pp. 125-135.
  • “The Paradox of Real Response to Neo-Fiction,” The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real. Ed. William Irwin. Open Court Press, 2002.
  • “Hannah Arendt and Plato on Thinking and its Relation to Evil,” Inherent and Instrumental Value: An Excursion of Value Theory. Ed. John Abbarno. International Scholars Publications, 2000.
  • “Elaine Benes: Feminist Icon or Just One of the Boys?” Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing. Ed. William Irwin. Open Court Press, 1999.
  • “Music, Emotion and Language: Using Music to Communicate,” The Paideia Project On -Line: Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy, 1999 <http://www.bu.edu/wcp>.
  • Section Introductions “Experience and Appreciation: How Do We Encounter Art?” and “Can We Learn From Art?” in Aesthetics: The Big Questions. Ed. Carolyn Korsmeyer, Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers, 1998. (Anthology is part of Basil Blackwell’s series, Philosophy: The Big Questions, general editor James Sterba). Sections co-authored with Jennifer McMahon Railey.

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