(DOC) Aesthetics (Fall 2013)

PHL 247 – Aesthetics (Fall 2013) Block 2 (9/30 – 10/23) Location: Armstrong 342 Instructor: Yong Dou (Michael) Kim E-mail:

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Office hours: By appointment in Armstrong 125 (I am usually in my office after class T/Th as well) Course description: This course is an introduction to (the study of) aesthetics and philosophy of art. Among the specific goals of this course are: to provide both a historical and conceptual overview of some topics and questions associated with aesthetics and philosophy of art (primarily in the Continental tradition); and to explore some traditional as well as future or possible associations between philosophy and art. In addition, this course has the following general goals: to develop critical reading skills for philosophical literature; to develop writing skills and habits appropriate for philosophical and, more broadly, academic writing; and to provide a general introduction to the methods of philosophical analysis. Texts: The following books are required and have been ordered at the bookstore (although you are free to acquire your copies elsewhere): Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. (New York: Penguin, 1977). ISBN 9780140135152 Foucault, Michel. This Is Not a Pipe, 25th Anniversary Edition, trans. James Harkness. (Berkeley: UCP, 2008). ISBN 978-0520236943 Hofstadter, Albert and Richard Kuhns, eds. Philosophies of Art and Beauty: Selected Readings in Aesthetics from Plato to Heidegger. (Chicago: UCP, 1976). ISBN 978-0226348124 Other required texts will be posted online on PROWL in PDF form. You may use alternative versions of any of our texts but for convenience it would be preferable for us all to have the same translations and/or pagination. Finally, the following book is not required but has been ordered at the bookstore as a highly recommended secondary source to accompany primary source readings in Hofstadter and Kuhns, eds: Schaeffer, Jean-Marie. Art of the Modern Age: Philosophy of Art from Kant to Heidegger, trans. Steven Rendall. (Princeton: PUP, 2009). ISBN 978-0691144368 Course requirements and assessment: I view assessment as a form of communication. I do not view assignments as a means simply of “giving you a grade”. Assignments are designed so you can demonstrate to me your engagement with course material and, reciprocally, so I can provide you with feedback. Assessment will be comprised of: Two in-class presentations (15% each): According to the schedule that we will develop on the first day of class, every student will be responsible for two 10-minute in-class presentations (either alone or with a partner). More detailed guidelines for the presentations will be provided separately. Term paper (50%): Over the course of the block, you will work with me to develop a 10 – 15 page paper, due on the last day of class. Your paper should both engage with some aspect of our class material and consist of research beyond our texts into an area of your choosing. More detailed requirements for the paper will be provided separately. In-class and miscellaneous assignments / reading quizzes (20%): Occasionally we will work together in class or I will ask you to prepare short assignments for class discussion. I may also administer periodic (short) reading quizzes in class. The average of all these combined will account for this portion of your final grade. Class policies: (1) Attend class regularly and bring all appropriate materials (e.g., readings, notes, etc). Regular and active participation is important not only so the class can develop ongoing dialogue and communication but also because this course is designed organically such that each session and section of the course is related to all the others. This being said, however, there are many forms of “participation”—active listening is a legitimate form of participation just as sharing your thoughts whether verbally or on paper. (2) Philosophical conversation necessarily involves questions and disagreement. Disagreement, however, should be productive; please be respectful of your peers (and me!). (3) Conversation is most fruitful when interlocutors freely share their thoughts, interests, and expertise. Just as my role is to facilitate conversation with my experience, so too your own experience and knowledge are necessary for successful discussion. This is our class and we all contribute in our own way to its success. (4) I do encourage the use of appropriate technology. I prefer assignments to be submitted electronically when possible and I also encourage the use of computers to take notes. Please do so responsibly, of course—I understand the lure of Facebook, IMing, and so on, but there’s a time and place for that outside of class; along the same lines, please don’t text during class (obviously, talking on your phone would be even more obnoxious). (5) Late work requires exceptional mitigating circumstances such as severe illness, death (obviously not your own), and so on. Terms and acceptance of late work are determined on an individual basis. (6) Missed classes will require a make-up assignment, generally consisting of a one-page (single spaced) essay demonstrating some engagement with the reading assigned for the missed class, including but not limited to a summary of key points in the text or questions that may have arisen during your reading of the text. (7) The standard university academic integrity policies (including cases of plagiarism and cheating) apply for this course. (8) Aside from the term paper, your use of secondary sources should be confined only to those approved by me. Secondary sources (particularly online sources) are often unreliable and/or provide only one possible interpretation of a text or idea. Your engagement with the material for our course should not be mediated by someone else’s interpretation of it. As a general rule, unless explicitly recommended or approved by me, secondary sources are not permitted in this course. (9) All the usual and reasonable academic accommodations will be made for qualified individuals with disabilities. If you are a person with a disability, please contact me, in private, immediately. Schedule: A tentative schedule of the course is listed below. I want to keep the schedule flexible so the course can develop according to the needs and interests of the class as we move through the semester. We may, for example, dwell longer on certain topics that are particularly interesting or intransigent or perhaps even explore additional topics. If we need to spend more time on a particular topic, or if readings need to be adjusted, I reserve the right to alter the schedule at any time. PAB = Philosophies of Art and Beauty, ed. Hofstadter and Kuhns Readings posted online are marked with an asterisk (*) Week One M 9/30: Introductory remarks T 10/1: Plato: selections from Symposium (PAB pp. 68 – 77); Plotinus: selections from Enneads (PAB pp. 141 – 170); Augustine: selections from De Ordine (pp. 173 – 185); *Emerson: “The Poet” W 10/2: Shaftesbury: selections from Characteristics of Men, Manners, and Opinions (PAB pp. 241 – 266); *Hume: “Of the Standard of Taste”; *Burke: selections from A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful Th 10/3: Kant: selections from Critique of Judgment (PAB pp. 280 – 323, 331 – 335) Recommended: Schaeffer, Chapter 1 (pp. 17 – 64) F 10/4: *Schiller: “On Naïve and Sentimental Poetry” and *Schlegel: Fragments Recommended: Schaeffer, Chapter 2 (pp. 67 -72, 90 – 134) Week Two M 10/7: Hegel: selections from Lectures on Fine Art (PAB pp. 382 – 445) Recommended: Schaeffer, Chapter 3 (pp. 135 – 181) T 10/8: Nietzsche: *“The Dionysiac Worldview” and selections from The Birth of Tragedy (PAB pp. 498 – 554) Recommended: Schaeffer, Chapter 4 (pp. 208 – 236) W 10/9: Heidegger: “The Origin of the Work of Art” (PAB pp. 650 – 708) Recommended: Schaeffer, Chapter 5 (pp. 237 – 272) Th 10/10: *Derrida: selections from The Truth In Painting; Foucault: This Is Not A Pipe F 10/11: *Benjamin: “The Work of Art in the Age of Technological Reproducibility”, *Virilio: selections from The Vision Machine; *Mitchell: selections from What Do Pictures Want? Week Three M 10/14: *Danto: selections from The Transfiguration of the Commonplace, *“The Artworld” T 10/15: *Horkheimer/Adorno: selections from Dialectic of Enlightenment; *Marcuse: “The Affirmative Character of Culture”; *Adorno: selections from Aesthetic Theory W 10/16: *Jameson: selections from Postmodernism; *Lyotard: selections from The Inhuman; *Kant: selections from Critique of Judgment Th 10/17: Berger: Ways of Seeing; *Nochlin: “Eroticism and Female Imagery in Nineteenth-Century Art” and “Women, Art, and Power” F 10/18: Dewey: selections from Art As Experience (PAB pp. 579 – 615, 640 - 643); *Shusterman: selections from Pragmatist Aesthetics Recommended: Schaeffer, Conclusion (pp. 273 – 308) Week Four M 10/21: *Rancière: “The Paradoxes of Political Art”, selections from The Future of the Image and The Emancipated Spectator T 10/22: *Deleuze: “Percept, Affect, Concept” and “Of the Refrain” W 10/23: *Deleuze: selections from Francis Bacon; *Henry: selections from Seeing the Invisible 1