Legend has it that the British Society of Aesthetics (BSA) was founded in 1960 so that Herbert Read could lead a delegation of British Aestheticians to the International Congress on Aesthetics being held in Athens that year. In recent years the Society has revived its ambition to work within an international and European Community.

Its declared foundational aim is to promote study, research and discussion of the fine arts and related types of experience from a philosophical, psychological, sociological, historical, critical and educational standpoint. The Society's activities include publication of the British Journal of Aesthetics and a newsletter, an annual conference held in Oxford, regional conferences, joint conferences with Aestheticians from Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy and Germany, lecture series, and grants to support aesthetics events.

For information on the Society's current Executive Committee, please click: here.

To read a memoir of the Society by T.J. Diffey, please click: here.