My research interests can be divided into three main areas: aesthetics, philosophy of myth, and Russian philosophy. These areas frequently overlap in my research and writing and in many cases their conjunction sheds a new light on the questions that I confront. In aesthetics these questions have to do with the nature of aesthetic experience, art’s relation to religion and philosophy, as well as art’s transformative powers. As far as myth is concerned, I have tried to understand its role in cultural-historical change, articulation of aesthetic ideas, and evolution of artistic, especially musical, practices. In Russian philosophy I am primarily interested in the aesthetic doctrines of Vladimir Solov’ëv, Viacheslav Ivanov, and Aleksei Losev, but also in broader themes, such as the history of Russian thought in general and its so-called “Silver Age” stage (1890-1925) in particular.
My book The Orpheus Myth and the Power of Music was published in 2009 by Pendragon Press in the series Interplay: Music in Interdisciplinary Dialogue.
My translation of Aleksei Losev's 1930 study The Dialectics of Myth, with an extensive
introduction, was published by Routledge in 2003.
At the moment I am working on my second monograph titled Ontology, Reality, and Play:
Art as Transfigurative Praxis. The book will provide a dialectical analysis of artistic creativity,
notions of reality and play, and of art’s impact on real life.
My papers on a variety of subjects, both in English and Russian, have appeared in such
venues as Philosophy in the Contemporary World, Analecta Husserliana, Studies in East
European Thought, Phenomenological Investigations, Muzykal'naia akademiia (Musical
Academy, Moscow), and Le Paon d'Héra. Hera’s Peacock. An International Thematic
Interdisciplinary Journal. I have organized two international academic conferences: “A. F.
Losev and Twentieth-Century Human Sciences” (Columbus, Ohio, 2003) and “Arts and Terror”
(Athens, Ohio, 2009), and presented papers at a wide range of international, national, and
regional academic conferences both in the U.S. and abroad.
I served as an author and consulting editor on Russian philosophy for the Encyclopedia of
Philosophy. Second Edition (Macmillan, 2006).
I am currently editing a collection of essays titled Between Histories: Whence and Whither
Contemporary Art for the Hampton Press Cultures and Civilizations Series. The book is a
forum for philosophers and art theorists who critique, from different perspectives, the historical
tendencies in modern art that have resulted in what is known as the postmodern condition.
At its most ambitious my work aims to find a way out of the current impasse in aesthetic thought.
It may seem surprising to speak of an impasse today when more perhaps is written and published
in this field than ever before but the postmodern critique of art has posed fundamental
philosophical challenges that in my opinion still remain unanswered. The most poignant of these
questions has to do with the nature of art and with its place among other human pursuits. I
seek to contribute to the philosophical debate on this problem.
I teach graduate seminars in the history of aesthetics (from ancient to postmodern) and world
aesthetic ideas (Musical Aesthetics of India and China), as well as specialized seminars in
contemporary aesthetics (Art and the Dialectics of Personal Identity). I regularly lead
team-taught interdisciplinary arts seminars on "Art in Contexts: The Arts in the Twentieth
Century," "Wagner's Ring and German Philosophy," and "Antiquity: The Orpheus Myth." I also teach
upper-level undergraduate (tier iii) courses on "Art and Morality" and "Cultural Traditions –
The Arts: Renaissance and Baroque."
The overarching goal of my teaching is to raise the students’ self-awareness, which is critical
to their growth as scholars, professionals, and human beings. The goal is philosophical in
nature but I believe that it is best achieved when philosophy and the arts work together. The
conjunction of philosophical thought and artistic experience – be it that of the artist or the
beholder – is basic to my effort as a teacher.