Entry requirements

Aesthetics A or Practical Philosophy A or Theoretical Philosophy A

Learning outcomes

At the completion of the course, students are expected to be able to:

• use the concepts and distinctions necessary for critical evaluation of philosophical theories and arguments
• read and understand texts with significant proportions of historical analysis and philosophical argument
• demonstrate a systematic understanding of a number of problems central to contemporary philosophical aesthetics
• show very good knowledge of philosophical aesthetics in general
• analyse strengths and weaknesses in the particular theories studied
• critically discuss the relations between different aesthetic theories and a selection of works of art that challenge those theories
• use theoretical tools to argue for and against central theories about aesthetic value, art, and the experience of art.

Content

The focus of this course is the historical development of aesthetics and the questions discussed by, for instance, Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Schiller and Hutcheson: questions which still today influence philosophical discussions about art and aesthetic experience. How do these historical texts illuminate the concepts and distinctions still central to contemporary aesthetics? How does the development of aesthetics relate to theories and influential developments in other philosophical domains? The particular texts studied each semester are chosen by the course director.

Instruction

Lectures and mandatory seminars.

Assessment

The examination consists of take-home assignments.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.