Curtis Bowman
Logan Hall 464
898-8563 (dept.)
cubowman@nous.phil.upenn.edu

Course Description

Aesthetics concerns itself with philosophical questions which arise when we reflect upon the nature of art and our experience of it, as well as with our experience of nature itself. What makes something a work of art? What is the relationship between artists and their artworks? Can we give reasons for our judgments about artworks, or are they simply expressions of what we like and dislike? What is the ontology of the work of art? How do our aesthetic responses to nature play a role in our lives? These are some of the questions that we will consider in this course.

Our readings shall be drawn from the history of Western aesthetics. Thus we shall begin with Plato and Aristotle and then work our way up to the present day. No knowledge of art history is required, although it is certainly helpful, since innovations in aesthetics are often responses to innovations in the arts themselves.

Required Texts

R. G. Collingwood, The Principles of Art (Oxford)

Arthur C. Danto, After the End of Art (Princeton)

Immanuel Kant, Critique of Judgement (Oxford)

Russell & Winterbottom (eds.), Classical Literary Criticism (Oxford) (CLC)

Leo Tolstoy, What is Art? (Hackett)

A small bulkpack will also be available at the Campus Copy Center (3907 Walnut St.).

Readings

Ancient Aesthetics: Art as Imitation

1. Plato: Ion and selections from the Republic (CLC, pp. 1-50)

Commentary on Plato: Alexander Nehamas's "Plato and the Mass Media" (in bulkpack)

2. Aristotle's Poetics (CLC, pp. 51-90)

3. Horace's The Art of Poetry (CLC, pp. 98-110)

The Reaction to Art as Imitation: Art as Expression

1. Tolstoy's What is Art? (Chapters 1, 5-20)

2. Collingwood's The Principles of Art (Introduction, Book I, and Book III)

The Contemporary Artworld

1. Clement Greenberg on Modernism: "Abstract Art," "Cézanne: Gateway to Contemporary Painting," "The Case for Abstract Art," "Modernist Painting" (in bulkpack)

2. Danto's Thesis of the End of Art: After the End of Art

Kant's Aesthetics: The Critique of Judgement

1. The Theory of Beauty: "Analytic of the Beautiful" (§§1-22, General Remark)

2. The Theory of the Sublime: "Analytic of the Sublime" (§§23-29, General Remark)

3. The Theory of Art: §§43-54

4. The Deduction of Taste and the Link to Morality: §§30-42, 55-60

Course Requirements

Students will write two papers of 5-10 pages. There will also be a comprehensive exam at the end of the semester. Each assignment will count for a third of the course grade.