Phil 227
Fall 2006
Casey
O'Callaghan
www.bates.edu/~cocallag/
73 Campus
Avenue
Barnett Newman infamously
quipped, "Aesthetics is for the artist as ornithology is for the
birds." In this course we will ask the question "What is Art?"
and see that some of the most challenging recent artwork self-consciously
flaunts this question. In exploring what makes something art, and what art does, we'll examine several questions central to
contemporary philosophy of art through the lens of artistic works and practice.
With close attention to visual, performance, literary, and experimental art
forms, we'll explore the philosophical significance of art, and the relevance
of philosophy to art.
Texts:
1. The Art Question [TAQ], Nigel Warburton.
2. Aesthetics in Perspective [AP], Kathleen M. Higgins.
3. Other readings [O], Bates WebCT.
Recommended
supplements:
1. Philosophy of Art: A Contemporary
Introduction,
No‘l Carroll, Routledge.
2. Artists on Art, eds. Robert Goldwater and Marco
Treves, Pantheon.
3. The Routledge Companion to
Aesthetics, eds.
Berys Gaut and Dominic McIver Lopes.
Coursework:
Midterm
(M 10-16): 1/4
Paper (M
11-13, 4-6 pages): 1/4
Final
exam (T 12-12, 8am): 1/4
Attendance,
preparation, quizzes, and participation in discussions: 1/4
Topics
and Readings:
What is
Art? (W 9-6)
The
Problem of Indiscernible Counterparts (M 9-11)
Arthur
Danto, "Art, Philosophy, and Philosophy of Art" [O]
The
Art Question [TAQ], Introduction: Art and
Philosophy
Representation
(W 9-13)
Plato,
"Art and Appearance" from Republic, [AP: 114-121]
John Berger, "Oil Painting" [AP: 464-466]
John Cage, "Experimental Music" [AP: 148-151]
Leonardo DaVinci, extracts from his notebooks [O]
{Further reading: Mark Rollins,
"Pictorial Representation" [O]
Form (M
9-18)
Clive Bell, "Emotion in Response to Significant
Form" [AP:
365-367]
[TAQ], Chapter One:
Significant Form
Expressing
Emotion (W 9-20)
Leo Tolstoy, "What is Art?" [AP: 362-364]
Milan Kundera, "The Nature of Kitsch" [AP: 397-398]
Robin Collingwood, "Expressing Emotion" [AP: 371-376]
[TAQ], Chapter Two:
Expression of Emotion
{Recommended:
Jenefer Robinson, "The Emotions in Art" [O]}
An
Aesthetic Attitude (M 9-25)
Edward
Bullough, "Psychical Distance" [AP: 164-167]
George
Dickie, "The Myth of the Aesthetic Attitude" [AP: 172-179]
The Role
of Artists' Intentions (W 9-27)
Wm Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley, "The Intentional
Fallacy" [AP:
409-413]
P.D.
Juhl, "Computer Poems" [AP: 414-417]
Fakes and
Forgeries (M 10-2)
Nelson
Goodman, "Art and Authenticity"
[O]
Copies
and Mass Reproduction (W 10-4)
Walter Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of
Mechanical Reproduction" [AP: 98-102]
What kind of thing is an artwork? What category of being does it belong to? (M 10-9)
Amie
Thomasson, "The Ontology of Art" [O]
Can we
define 'art'? Definitional
Challenges (W 10-11)
Moritz
Weitz, "The Role of Theory in Aesthetics" [AP: 75-81]
[TAQ], Chapter Three: Family Resemblances
Midterm
exam (M 10-16)
The
Artworld (M 10-23, W 10-25)
Arthur Danto, "The Artworld" [AP: 68-74]
[TAQ], Chapter Four: Institutional Contexts
Pablo Picasso, An Interview
Georges
Braque, "Reflections on Painting"
[TAQ], Chapter Five: So What?
Philosophies
of Arts (M 10-30, W 11-1)
Peter
Kivy, Philosophies of Arts, (Cambridge, 1997)
Chapter
1, "How We Got Here, and Why" pp. 1-29 [O]
Chapter
2, "Where We Are" pp. 30-54 [O]
The
Meaning of Music (M 11-6, W 11-8)
Peter
Kivy, "Why Music?"
Chapter One in Music Alone (Cornell, 1990) [O]
Eduard
Hanslick, "On the Musically Beautiful" [AP: 329-330]
Peter Kivy, "Emotions in the Music" Ch. 3 of Intro.
to a Phil. of Music
(OUP, 2002) [O]
{Nick Zangwill, "Against Emotion: Hanslick Was Right About Music" [O]}
Photography
and Realism (M 11-13, W 11-15)
Susan
Sontag, "On Photography" [AP: 599-603]
AndrŽ
Bazin, "The Ontology of the Photographic Image" [O]
{Kendall
Walton, "Transparent Pictures" [O]}
The Power
of Movies (M 11-27, W 11-29)
No‘l
Carroll, "The Power of Movies" [O]
{No‘l
Carroll, "Defining the Moving Image" [O]}
Art's End?
(M 12-4, W 12-6)
Arthur Danto, "Approaching the End of Art" [AP: 454-460]