Philosophy of Art / Aesthetics

Phil 372

Spring 2015

INSTRUCTOR: WILLIAM IRWIN, Ph.D. EXT. 5493. williamirwin@kings.edu

Webpage: http://staff.kings.edu/wtirwin/

OFFICE HOURS: HAFEY-MARIAN 509 M&W 1-4:00, Tu&Th 3:30-4:50, and by appointment.

 

 

Prerequisite: Core 280 or Honors 280. Students who have not taken Core 280 or Honors 280 will not be permitted to take this course.

 

Satisfies Requirements: Phil 372 fulfills elective credit requirements for Philosophy Majors and Minors.

 

Course Description: This course will be a discussion-driven, issues and problems-based survey of Aesthetics. Topics we shall discuss include the nature of art, the aesthetic, aesthetic evaluation, meaning, beauty, the sublime, tragedy, and horror. Although we shall draw on classic philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, and Dewey, we shall draw equally on contemporary philosophers such as Beardsley, Carroll, Cohen, and Danto.

 

Objectives: Students will develop and refine the ability to offer criticism of philosophical positions, and will develop the ability to form their own educated positions on philosophical issues. Students will gain new insight into the issues and questions surveyed, and will pursue an independent project on a book not covered in class.

 

Required Texts:

 

Aesthetics: The Big Questions, edited by Carolyn Korsmeyer. (K)

 

The Philosophy of Art: A Contemporary Introduction, Noël Carroll. (C)

 

The Art Instinct, by Denis Dutton.

 

Handouts.

 

GRADES TO BE DETERMINED AS FOLLOWS:

 

ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION 10% Active participation in class discussions is expected and appreciated. More than 3 unexcused absences (i.e. without a note from a physician or college official) will result in no credit for attendance.

 

MIDTERM EXAM 30% (ESSAY)

 

FINAL EXAM 30% (ESSAY)

 

TERM PAPER 30%

 

EXAMS

Midterm and Final exams. Essay questions exactly as they will appear on the exam will be given in advance of the exam. Essays will ask for exposition of a topic, criticism of views discussed, and your argument for your position on the topic in question. 

 

TERM PAPER

Read The Art Instinct, by Denis Dutton. Write a paper addressing one of these questions: 1. What is the nature of beauty? 2. Is art an evolutionary by-product? 3. Why do we like fictional stories? 4. Are artists like peacocks? The paper, 7-10 pages in length, is due in class April 28. The instructor will provide a handout indicating the precise format and expectations for the paper.  

 

Readings:

I. AESTHETIC EVALUATION

A. “Beauty” handout.

B. Melchionne, “Artistic Dropouts,” K 98-103.

C. Hume “Of the Standard of Taste,” K 137-150.

D. Ducasse “Criticism as Appraisal,” handout.

E. Bordieu “Distinction,” K 150-155.

F. Cohen, “High and Low Thinking about High and Low Art,” K 171-177.

 

II. THE SUBLIME

A. Poe, “A Descent into the Maelström,” K 244-255.

B. Burke, “[T]he Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful,” K 255-264.

C. Kant, “Analytic of the Sublime,” K 264-272.

 

III. TRAGEDY

A.“Choral Ode from Oedipus at Colonus,” K 230.

B. Aristotle, Poetics, K 231-236.

C. Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy, K 236-242.

 

IV. HORROR

A. Carroll, “The Philosophy of Horror,” K 274-283.

B. Freeland, “Realist Horror,” K 283-292.

 

V. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

A. Foucault, “What Is an Author?” K 324-332; Barthes, “The Death of the Author” handout.

B. Wimsatt and Beardsley, “The Intentional Fallacy,” handout.

C. Baxandall, “Truth and Other Cultures,” K 338-344.

D. Carroll, “Art, Intention, and Conversation,” handout.

E. Hirsch, “Meaning and Significance,” handout.

 

EXAM 1

 

VI. WHAT IS ART? REPRESENTATION

A. “Analysing Concepts,” C 7-11.

B.“Art as Representation,” C 19-33.

C. Danto, “The Artworld,” K 33-44.

D. “What is Representation?” C 33-49.

 

VII. WHAT IS ART? EXPRESSION AND FORM

A. “Art as Expression,” C 59-79.

B. “What is Expression?” C 79-105.

C. “Art as Form,” C 108-136.

D. “What is Form?” C 137-153; watch “Who the F#%* is Jackson Pollock?”

 

VIII. WHAT IS ART? THE AESTHETIC

A. Dewey, “The Live Creature,” K 12-18.

B. Stolnitz, “The Aesthetic Attitude,” K 78-83.

C. Brand, “Disinterestedness and Political Art,” K 155-168.

D.“Aesthetic Theories of Art,” C 156-182.

E. “The Aesthetic Dimension,” C 182-203.

 

IX. WHAT IS ART? A FAMILY RESEMBLANCE

A. Anderson, “Calliope’s Sisters,” K 19-30.

B. “Against Definition,” C 206- 224.

C. Irwin, “Art and the Aesthetic: A Neo-Wittgensteinian Account,” handout.

 

X. WHAT IS ART? ALTERNATIVES

A. “Institutional Theory of Art,” C 224-239.

B. “Defining Art Historically,” C. 240-249.

C. “Identifying Art,” C 249-266.

 

*Time Permitting: Discussion and presentation of term papers.

 

Exam 2