phil 309
AESTHETICS
syllabus

 

Texts:

Required texts are available in the bookstore, and on reserve in the library. Students must read each daily assignment before coming to class, and bring the book (or .pdf printout) with them to facilitate discussion.

[PAB] Hofstadter & Kuhns, eds., Philosophies of Art and Beauty (Chicago)
[TC] Arthur Danto, Transfiguration of the Commonplace (Harvard)
[ACA] Dickie, et al., eds., Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology (St. Martins)

The following readings are available in the "Electronic Reserve" section of the Fondren Library website (password required):

[TM] Hans Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method [selections] (Continuum)
[PP] Maurice Merleau-Ponty, "Eye and Mind," from The Primacy of Perception (Northwestern)

Requirements:

- class attendance and participation; daily readings
- occasional short (1-2 paragraph) written responses to the reading (via email)
- two short (5-7 pp.) essays
- one longer (10-15 pp.) term paper

Daily Readings (to be completed before coming to class on the indicated day):

I. THE COSMOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE AND THE THEORY OF MIMESIS

Aug 26: Introduction: Aesthetics -- Philosophy of Art or Philosophy of Beauty?

Aug 28: The meaning of the beautiful
Readings: Plato, from Symposium and Phaedrus [PAB 57-77]

Sept 2: The ancient quarrel between philosophy and art
Readings: Plato, from The Republic [PAB 8-45]

Sept 4: Art and nature
Readings: Aristotle, from Metaphysics, Ethics, Physics, Politics [PAB 84-96,131-38]

Sept 9: Mimesis, meaning, and metaphor: truth in art?
Readings: Aristotle, from Poetics [PAB 97-123]

Sept 11: The destiny of the cosmological perspective: the Renaissance

II. THE TURN TO THE SUBJECT AND THE THEORY OF TASTE

Sept 16: Aesthetic judgment
Readings: Kant, from The Critique of Judgment [PAB 280-307, 312-13]

Sept 18: Aesthetic judgment (continued)
Readings: Kant, Critique of Judgment (continued)

Sept 23: Art, genius, and aesthetic ideas
Readings: Kant, from The Critique of Judgment [PAB 313-323]

III. ART, METAPHYSICS, AND HISTORY (ROMANTICISM)

Sept 25: The priority of art over nature and the demand for philosophical reflection
Readings: Hegel, from Philosophy of Fine Art, Introduction [PAB 382-395]

Sept 30: Beauty as truth: the essence of appearance
Readings: Hegel, from Philosophy of Fine Art, Introduction [PAB 395-424] (paper due)

Oct 2: History and the end of art: toward art's autonomy
Readings: Hegel, from Philosophy of Fine Art, Introduction [PAB 425-445]

IVA. THE AUTONOMY OF ART: PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACHES

Oct 7: Ontological phenomenology: thing and work
Readings: Heidegger, Origin of the Work of Art [PAB 650-669]

Oct 9: Ontological phenomenology: work and truth
Readings: Heidegger, Origin of the Work of Art [PAB 669-683]

Oct 14: Midterm recess

Oct 16: Ontological phenomenology: truth and art
Readings: Heidegger, Origin of the Work of Art [PAB 683-708]

Oct 21: Hermeneutic phenomenology: presentation, representation, and play
Readings: Gadamer, from Truth and Method [TM 89-121]

Oct 23: Hermeneutic phenomenology: structure, event, and the increase in being
Readings: Gadamer, from Truth and Method [TM 121-159]

Oct 28: Hermeneutic phenomenology: interpretation and reintergration
Readings: Gadamer, from Truth and Method [TM 159-169]

Oct 30: Existential phenomenology: embodiment and vision (the flesh of the world)
Merleau-Ponty, "Eye and Mind" [PP 159-190]

Nov 4: Existential phenomenology: brute meaning and the enigma of depth
Merleau-Ponty, "Eye and Mind" [PP 159-190]

IVB. THE AUTONOMY OF ART: ANALYTIC PERSPECTIVES

Nov 6: Evaluative approaches to art: aesthetic experience and aesthetic attitude
Readings: Jerome Stolnitz, "The Aesthetic Attitude" [ACA 334-341]
George Dickie, "All Aesthetic Attitude Theories Fail" [ACA 342-355]

Nov 11: Evaluative approaches to art: taste, discrimination, and aesthetic concepts (paper due)
Readings: Frank Sibley, "Aesthetic Concepts" [ACA 356-374]
Kendall Walton, "Categories of Art" [ACA 394-414]

Nov 13: Classificatory approaches to art: the institutional theory
Readings: George Dickie, "The New Institutional Theory of Art" [ACA 196-205]
R. Stecker, "The End of an Institutional Definition of Art" [ACA 206-213]
George Dickie, "Reply to Stecker" [ACA 214-217]

Nov 18: Works and things
Readings: Danto, Transfiguration of the Commonplace [TC 1-53]

Nov 20: Aesthetics and the metaphysics of representation
Readings: Danto, Transfiguration of the Commonplace [TC 54-114]

Nov 25: Interpretation, identification, representation
Readings: Danto, Transfiguration of the Commonplace [TC 115-164]

Nov 27: Thanksgiving Recess

Dec 2: Metaphor, expression, and life transfigured
Readings: Danto, Transfiguration of the Commonplace [TC 164-208]

Dec 5: After the end of art?

Statement on Disabilities:

Any student with a disability requiring accommodation in this course is encouraged to contact me after class or during office hours. Additionally, students should contact Disability Support Services in the Ley Student Center.

Page maintained by Steven Crowell
Last updated: August 21, 2003