Current Position   
  Department Chair and Professor of Philosophy,
  Minnesota State University Moorhead 

Education  
Ph.D. in Philosophy: 1984, University of California, Davis.
Dissertation: "Epistemological Sources of Kant’s Aesthetic Theory"
Dissertation Director: G. J. Mattey

Master of Arts in Philosophy, University of California, Davis, 1982.

Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy (Summa Cum Laude), 
Saint Mary's College of California, 1979.

Areas of Specialization  
Aesthetics of Music, Philosophy of Art, History of Modern Philosophy

Areas of Competence  
History of Ethics, Kant, Applied Ethics, Critical Thinking, Epistemology

Teaching/Administrative Experience  

• Professor of Philosophy, MSUM, 1997-present
• Interim Dean, College of Education and Human Services, MSUM, 2000-2001
• Associate Dean, College of Arts & Humanities, MSUM, 2000
• Chair, Philosophy Department, MSUM, 1994-2000, 2003-present
• Associate Professor of Philosophy, MSUM, 1991-1997
• Assistant Professor of Philosophy, MSUM, 1986-1991
• Visiting Lecturer, California State University San Bernardino, 1984-1986
• Instructor (2 courses), University of California Davis, 1982-84

Awards  

• 2007 Academic Affairs Council Award for University Service Excellence, Minnesota State University Moorhead. (Group award for university reaccredidation.)
  
• 2004 Outstanding Advisor Award, College of Arts and Humanities, Minnesota State University Moorhead.
  
• 2002 Academic Affairs Council Research Activity Award, Minnesota State University Moorhead. One of two awarded campus-wide annually.
  
• Co-winner of The 2002 Woody Guthrie Award (the 2002 IASPM/US Book Award)
  (International Association for the Study of Popular Music)
  
• 1998-99 Roland and Beth Dille Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Award, Moorhead State University.
  
• 1996 Academic Affairs Council Teaching Excellence Award, Moorhead State University. One of two awarded campus-wide annually.
  
• 1996 Moorhead State University Nominee for Professor of the Year,  Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
  
• 1982 Teaching Award for Outstanding Graduate Students, University of California Davis.

Publications: Books  

• Current Project (co-edited with Andrew Kania): The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Music. Anticipated publication date: 2010.
• Listening to Popular Music. The University of Michigan Press, 2007. 245 pages.
• I Wanna Be Me: Rock Music and the Politics of Identity. 
  Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001. 304 pages.
  For an overview of the book, click here 
• Rhythm and Noise: An Aesthetics of Rock. 
  Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1996. 312 pages. 
• Korean Translation of Rhythm and Noise. Seoul, South Korea: Theory & Praxis Publishing Co., 2002. 

Local Publishing:

• Editor, History of Ethics: A Reader. Minnesota State University Moorhead, 2008. An anthology of public domain texts (Aristotle through Mill).
• Editor, Philosophy and the Arts: Selected Readings. Minnesota State University Moorhead, 2006. An anthology of public domain texts.
• Editor, Philosophy 101: Introduction to Western Philosophy -- A Text With Readings. Minnesota State University Moorhead, 2005. 3rd edition, 2008. An anthology of public domain texts with introductions and reading guides.
• Co-editor, The Beautiful and The Good. Acton, MA: Copley Publishing, 1994. An anthology of original readings and secondary sources for the Moorhead State University course, Liberal Studies 201: The Beautiful and the Good.

Selected Professional Service 

• Associate Editor, Editorial Board of The Journal Of Music and Meaning 
• Program Chair, American Society for Aesthetics 65th Annual Meeting, November 2007.
• Board of Trustees, American Society of Aesthetics, 2003-2006

Publications: Articles and Essays 

"Ontological Contextualism," in A Companion to Aesthetics, 2nd ed., eds. David Cooper, Stephen Davies, Kathleen Higgins, Robert Hopkins and Robert Stecker (Oxford: Blackwell), forthcoming.

"Authenticity," in A Companion to Aesthetics, 2nd ed., eds. David Cooper, Stephen Davies, Kathleen Higgins, Robert Hopkins and Robert Stecker (Oxford: Blackwell), forthcoming.

"David Hume," in A Companion to Aesthetics, 2nd ed., eds. David Cooper, Stephen Davies, Kathleen Higgins, Robert Hopkins and Robert Stecker (Oxford: Blackwell), forthcoming.

"Listening With Their Eyes: Problems for Radical Intertextuality ," in Incestuous Pop: Intertextuality in Recorded Popular Music, Serge Lacasse, ed. (Quebec City: Nota Bene), in press.

"Documentation and Transformation in Musical Recordings," in Recorded Music: Philosophical and Critical Reflections, ed. Mine Dogantan-Dack (Middlesex University Press), expected publication date September 2008.

"Reflective Equilibrium in the Aesthetics Classroom," American Society for Aesthetics Newsletter, in press. Online version is HERE.

"The Aesthetics of Popular Music," The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, June, 2008,  http://www.iep.utm.edu/m/music-po.htm.

"Pulling Together as a Team: Collective Action and Pink Floyd’s Intentions," in Pink Floyd and Philosophy, George Reisch, ed. (Open Court Press, 2007), pp. 141-61.

"Searching for the 'Popular' and the "Art' in Popular Art," invited survey article for Blackwell’s Philosophy Compass (Vol. 2, April 2007) http://www.blackwell-compass.com/subject/philosophy/.

"To Find A Song That I Can Sing: What Philosophy of Language Can Tell Us About Popular Success," in U2 and Philosophy, Mark Wrathall, ed. (Open Court Press, 2006), pp. 163-76. Portuguese translation in U2 e a Filosofia (Madras Editora, 2008).

"Allusions and Intentions in Popular Art," in Philosophy and the Interpretation of Pop Culture, William Irwin and Jorge J. E. Gracia, eds. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield: 2007), pp. 65-87.

"When I Paint My Masterpiece: What Sort of Artist is Bob Dylan?" in Bob Dylan and Philosophy, Carl Porter and Peter Vernezze, eds. (Open Court Press: 2006), pp. 169-81.

"Music and the Matrix: Where Are We Hearing When We Hear the Future?", in More Matrix and Philosophy, Bill Irwin, ed. (Open Court Press: 2005), pp. 109-21.

"A Different Plea for Disinterest," in David Goldblatt and Lee B. Brown (eds.), Aesthetics: A Reader in Philosophy of the Arts, 2nd edition (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2005), pp. 502-8.

"Does Everyone Have a Musical Identity? Reflections on Musical Identities," Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education, 3:1 (May 2004), http://mas.siue.edu/ACT/ & http://www.siue.edu/MUSIC/ACTPAPERS/v3/Gracyk04.pdf 

Elements incorporated into Listening to Popular Music. 

"Popular Music: The Very Idea of Listening to It," in Bridging the Gap: Popular Music and Music Education, Carlos Rodriguez, ed. (Reston, VA: MENC - The National Association for Music Education, 2004), pp 51-70.

Revised and reprinted in Listening to Popular Music.

"Hume's Aesthetics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2003 Edition; revised 2006), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume-aesthetics/ 

"Sound and Vision: Color in Visual Art and Popular Music," in Pop Sounds: Klangtexturen in der Pop- und Rockmusik (The Role of Sound in Popular and Rock Music), Thomas Phleps and Ralf von Appen, eds. (Bielefeld, Germany: Transcript-Verlag, 2003), pp. 49-64.

"Jazz after Jazz: Ken Burns and the Construction of Jazz History," Philosophy and Literature, 26.1 (2002), pp. 173-187.

"Music's Worldly Uses," in Alex Neil and Aaron Ridley (eds.), Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates 2nd ed. (London and New York: Routledge, 2002) pp. 135-48. Also included in the 3rd edition, 2007.

Revised and reprinted in Listening to Popular Music.

" 'Candle in the Wind 1997' as an Antidote to the Social Erasure of the Public," Genre, 34:3-4 (Fall/Winter 2001), pp. 219-41. 

"Who Is the Artist if Works of Art Are Action Types?", The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 35:2 (Summer 2001), pp. 11-24. 

"Play It Again, Sam: Response to Niblock," The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 57:3 (Summer 1999), pp. 368-70. 

"Valuing and Evaluating Popular Music," invited contribution to a Special Issue of The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 57:2 (Spring 1999), pp. 205-20.

Revised and reprinted in Listening to Popular Music.

"What Goes On: The Double-Bind of Theorizing Rock," Literature and Psychology, 44:3 (1998), pp. 1-22. 

"Kant on Art and Nature," in Michael Kelly (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, Volume 3 (Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 41-44. 

"Listening to Music: Performances and Recordings," The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 55:2 (Spring 1997), pp. 139-50. 

Reprinted in Philip Auslander (ed.), Performance: Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies, Volume IV (New York : Routledge, 2003), pp. 332-50.

"Why Is Rock Music So Noisy?", in David Goldblatt and Lee B. Brown (eds.), Aesthetics: A Reader in Philosophy of the Arts (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996), pp. 440-43. Also included in the 2nd edition (2005), pp. 400-2.

"Art, Nature and Purposiveness in Kant's Aesthetic Theory," in Hoke Robinson (ed.), Proceedings of the Eighth International Kant Congress, Volume II, Part 2 (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1995), pp. 499-507.

"Rethinking Hume's Standard of Taste," The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 52:2 (Spring 1994), pp. 169-82. 

"Romanticizing Rock Music," The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 27:2 (Summer 1993), pp. 43-58. 

Reprinted in Rhythm and Noise; reprinted in Mary Lynch Kennedy, William J. Kennedy, and Hadley M. Smith (eds.), Writing in the Disciplines: A Reader for Writers 4th ed. (Prentice Hall, 2000), 5th ed. (2003), 6th edition (2008), and reprinted in Joanna Gibson (ed.), Perspectives: Case Studies for Readers and Writers (Longman Publishers, 2002), pp. 203-18. 

"Siegel on Competency Testing and Critical Thinking," Informal Logic, XIV: 2&3 (Spring/Fall 1992), pp. 165-78. 

"Adorno, Jazz, and the Aesthetics of Popular Music," The Musical Quarterly, 76:4 (Winter 1992), pp. 526-42. 

Revised and reprinted in Rhythm and Noise.
Reprinted in Gerard Delanty (ed.), Theodor W. Adorno, Volume Two (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2004).

"Critical Thinking Portfolio," APA Newsletter on Teaching Philosophy, 90:3 (Fall 1991), pp. 64-67. 

Revised and reprinted in Tziporah Kasachkoff (ed.), In The Socratic Tradition: Essays on Teaching Philosophy (Lanham, MD, and Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield, 1997). 

"Kant's Doctrine of Heuristics: An Interpretation of the Ideas Of Reason," The Modern Schoolman, LXVIII, No. 3 (March 1991), pp. 191-210. 

"Are Kant's 'Aesthetic Judgment' and 'Judgment of Taste' Synonymous?", International Philosophical Quarterly, 30:2 (June 1990), pp. 159-172. 

"Having Bad Taste," The British Journal of Aesthetics, 30:2 (April 1990), pp. 117-131. 

"The Failure of Thomas Reid's Aesthetic Theory," The Monist, 70:4 (October 1987), pp. 465-482. 

"Pornography as Representation: Aesthetic Considerations," The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 21:4, (Winter 1987), pp. 103-121. 

Reprinted in Robert M. Baird & Stuart E. Rosenbaum (ed.s), Pornography: Private Right or Public Menace? (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1991 & revised ed., 1998).

"Sublimity, Ugliness, and Formlessness in Kant's Aesthetic Theory," The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 45:1 (Fall 1986), pp. 49-56. 

"Kant's Shifting Debt to British Aesthetics," The British Journal of Aesthetics, 26:3 (Summer 1986), pp. 204-217.

Book Reviews 

Review of Yuriko Saito, Everyday Aesthetics (Oxford University Press, 2007) and Katya Mandoki, Everyday Aesthetics: Prosaics, the Play of Culture and Social Identities (Ashgate, 2007), in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, in press.

Review of Angela Ndalianis, Neo-Baroque Aesthetics and Contemporary Entertainment (The MIT Press, 2004) in The Journal of Aesthetic Education 41:2 (Summer 2007), 115-19. 

Review of Robert Stecker, Interpretation and Construction: Art, Speech and the Law (Blackwell Publishing, 2003), in The Philosophical Review, 115:4 (October 2006), 524-26.

Review of Andrew Light and Jonathan M. Smith, The Aesthetics of Everyday Life (Columbia University Press, 2005) in Philosophy in Review, 26:3 (June 2006), 205-8.

Review of Jonathan Sterne, The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction (Duke University Press, 2003); in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 63:3 (Summer 2005), pp. 302-4.

Review of Howard Singerman, Art Subjects: Making Artists in the American University (University of California Press, 1999) in The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 39:1 (Spring 2005), pp. 119-22.  

Review of Albin J. Zak III, The Poetics of Rock: Cutting Tracks, Making Records (University of California Press, 2001),  in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 62:1 (Winter 2004), pp. 73-74.

Review of Naomi Cumming, The Sonic Self: Musical Subjectivity and Signification (Indiana University Press, 2000), in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism,  61:3 (Summer 2003), pp. 311-12. 

Review of Stephen Davies, Musical Works & Performances (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2001), in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 61:2 (Spring 2003), pp. 204-6. 

Review of Roger Beebe, Denise Fulbrook, and Ben Saunders, Rock Over the Edge: Transformations in Popular Music Culture (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2002), in American Studies, 43:3 (Fall 2002), pp. 145-46. 

Review of George Dickie, Introduction to Aesthetics: An Analytic Approach (Oxford University Press, 1997); Gordon Graham, Philosophy of the Arts: An Introduction to Aesthetics (New York: Routledge, 1997); and Colin Lyas, Aesthetics (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1997): in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 57:1 (Winter 1999), pp. 82-86. 

Review of Susan Feagin, Reading with Feeling: The Aesthetics of Appreciation (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1996), in Philosophy in Review, 17:6 (1997), pp. 406-8. 

Review of Peter Fenves (ed.), Raising the Tone of Philosophy: Late Essays by Immanuel Kant, Transformative Critique by Jacques Derrida (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993), in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 53:4 (Fall 1995), p. 446. 

Review of Allan F. Moore, Rock: The Primary Text, (Buckingham and Philadelphia: Open University Press, 1993), in The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 28:4 (Winter 1994), pp. 105-7.

Review of J. M. Bernstein, The Fate of Art (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1992), in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 51:4 (Fall 1993), pp. 646-48. 

Review of Matthew Lipman, Thinking in Education, (Cambridge University Press, 1991), in International Studies in Philosophy, XXV.3 (1993), pp. 138-39. 

Review of Ralph Meerbote (ed.), Kant’s Aesthetics (Volume 1, North American Kant Society Studies in Philosophy) (Atascadero, CA: Ridgeview Publishing, 1991), in Canadian Philosophical Reviews, XII, no. 6 (December 1992), pp. 413-15.

Review of Jon Huer, Art, Beauty, and Pornography, (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1987), in The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 22:2 (Summer 1988), pp. 121-23. 

Review of Joseph Claude Evans, Jr., The Metaphysics of Transcendental Subjectivity, (Amsterdam: B. R. Gruner), in Philosophical Books, 27:2 (April 1986), pp. 82-84.  

Selected Presentations  

Panel presenter, Music and Morality, American Society for Aesthetics 66th Annual Meeting, November 2008.

"Agreeably Astray: Imagination and Music," Aesthetics Anarchy, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. May 16-18, 2008.

"Rodin's Sculpture: An Exploration of Ontology and Authenticity," Rodin Symposium, Plains Art Museum, Fargo, North Dakota, April 20, 2008.

"Agreeably Astray: Imagination and Music," Keynote Address at the 2008 Meeting of the Danish Philosophical Association, University of Southern Denmark at Odense, March 8, 2008. 

"Fakin' It: Is There Authenticity in Commercial Music?" Music Across Boundaries: The Scholarship and Community Conference, University of Houston, September 26, 2007.

"Danto, Music, and Indiscernible Counterparts," Online Conference in Aesthetics: Arthur Danto’s Transfiguration of the Commonplace—25 Years Later. January 22 - February 5, 2007.

"What's in a Phrase? Carroll and Iseminger on 'Aesthetic Experience'," American Society for Aesthetics 64th Annual Meeting, Milwaukee, October 2006.

"Artist's Intentions and the Humpty Dumpty Problem," Philosophy For All, Fargo, N.D., March 16, 2006.

"Authenticities in Commercial Music," American Society for Aesthetics, 62nd Annual Meeting, Houston, October 28, 2004.

“Allusion and Intentions in Popular Art," The 5th Samuel P. Capen Symposium in Philosophy, University of Buffalo, on Philosophy and the Interpretation of Popular Culture, April 2, 2004.

"Wayne and Garth and the Politics of Identity," Philosophy Colloquium Series, Texas Tech University, November 11, 2002. 

Gallery Talk, "Abstraction in the Paintings of Cha Guojun," MSUM Art Gallery, September 5, 2002. 

Invited Presenter on popular music, Northwestern University Music Education Leadership Seminar IV, School of Music, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, June 19, 2002. 

"Author Meets Author: Stephen Davies and Theodore Gracyk," American Society for Aesthetics, Pacific Division Meeting, Asilomar, CA, March 2002.

"All Shook Up: The Cultural Location of Musical Appropriation," International Association for the Study of Popular Music, U.S., e-conference,  January 19-27, 2002. <http://www.musicology.ucla.edu/iaspm2001/>

"The Twilight of Jazz: Ken Burns and the Construction of Jazz History," American Society for Aesthetics 59th Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, October 2001. 

"Wow Them and They Will Come: the Consumer Public and the Art Museum," Faith, Reason and World Affairs Symposium (September 24, 2001), Concordia College, Moorhead, MN. 

"A Different Plea for Disinterestedness," American Society for Aesthetics, Pacific Division Meeting, Asilomar, CA, April 2001. 

"Speaking in Tongues: Issues of Appropriation in Rock Music," Valparaiso University, April 7, 2000.

"Animals Learn Many Parts of their Knowledge from Observation: Hume on Empirical Knowledge," 26th Hume Society Conference, Cork, Ireland, July 1999. 

"Autonomy, High Culture and Higher Education," The Roland and Beth Dille Distinguished Faculty Lecture, Moorhead State University, January 1999. 

"Phonography: Transformation or Documentation?", American Society for Aesthetics 56th Annual Meeting, Bloomington, IN, November 1998. 

"Historical Authors and Speakers' Intentions in Mass Art," American Society for Aesthetics, Pacific Division Meeting, Asilomar, CA, April 1998. 

"Musical Appropriation and Cultural Autonomy," American Society for Aesthetics 55th Annual Meeting, Santa Fe, NM, October 1997. 

"Who Is the Artist If Works of Art Are Action Types?", American Society for Aesthetics 53rd Annual Meeting, St. Louis, MO, October 1995.

"Kant on Art and Nature," Eighth International Kant Congress, Memphis, TN, March 1995. 

"Rock Music and Record Consciousness," American Society for Aesthetics 52nd Annual Meeting, Charleston, SC, October 1994. 

"Why is Rock Music So Noisy?", American Society for Aesthetics, Pacific Division Meeting, Asilomar, CA, March 1994. 

"Representing, Recording, and Rock Music," American Society for Aesthetics, Pacific Division Meeting, Asilomar, CA, March 1993. 

"The Ontology of Rock Music," American Society for Aesthetics 50th Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, October 1992. 

"Rethinking Hume on Taste," American Society for Aesthetics 49th Annual Meeting, Portland, Oregon, October 1991, and Minnesota Philosophical Society Annual Meeting, October 1991. 

"The Proof is in the Pudding: Critical Thinking Portfolios," Minnesota State University System Conference on Teaching, October 1991.

"Adorno on Jazz," American Society for Aesthetics 48th Annual Meeting, Austin, Texas, October 1990. 

"Do Artworks Have Rights?", XIth International Aesthetics Congress, Nottingham, England, August, 1988. 

"Are Kant's 'Aesthetic Judgment' and 'Judgment of Taste' Synonymous?", APA Central Division Meetings, Chicago, April, 1987. 

"Pornography as Representation: Definitional Difficulties," APA Pacific Division Meetings, Los Angeles, March 1986.   

Courses Taught: 

101: Intro to Western Philosophy 
105: Philosophical Thinking (Writing Intensive Intro) 
110: Practical Reasoning
115: Contemporary Moral Issues
210/308: Aesthetics of music (Honors Program)
220: Philosophy of Education
250: Symbolic Logic
265: Philosophy of Science
290: Popular Culture
300: History of Ethics
305: Modern Philosophy: 17th Century
306: Modern Philosophy: 18th Century
311: Morals and Medicine 
320: Philosophy of the Arts
318: Professional Ethics   
365(g): Philosophy of Science
370(g): Skepticism and Knowledge
407: Theory of Knowledge
430: 20th Century Analytic Philosophy
440: Aesthetics of Music
440(g): Recent Aesthetic Theory
490: Ethics and Literature
490: Philosophy of Language 

Graduate Courses Taught: 

Philosophy of the Arts
Technology and the Arts
High Culture/Low Culture 
The Human Spirit in Art