Curriculum
Link to compendium:
The course is organized in five themes: 1. “What is Art?”; 2. “Aesthetic attitude and aesthetic experience”; 3. “Aesthetic Properties”; 4. “Aesthetic Value”, and 5. “Interpretation”.
Textbook
Philosophical Aesthetics. An Introduction, Oswald Hanfling (ed.), Blackwell, 1992 and later editions. Available at the university library (one paper copy). It is recommended that students buy this book.
In the book:
Theme 1: Hanfling, Oswald: “Essay One: The Problem of Definition”. (pp. 1‒40)
Theme 2: Collinson, Diané: “Essay four: Aesthetic Experience”. (pp. 111‒178)
Theme 3: Hanfling, Oswald: “Essay Two: Aesthetic Qualities” (pp. 41‒75)
Wilkinson, Robert: “Essay Five: Art, Emotion, and Expression” (pp. 179‒238)
Hursthouse, Rosalind: “Essay Six: Truth and Representation” (pp. 239‒298)
Theme 4: Lyas, Collin: “Essay Eight: The Evaluation of Art” (pp. 349‒380)
Theme 5: Lyas, Collin: “Essay Nine: Criticism and Interpretation” (pp. 381‒404)
Number of pages in Hanfling: 313 pp.
Papers
Theme 1: “What is art?”
Beardsley, Monroe C., “An Aesthetic Definition of Art”, In Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art. The Analytic Tradition, P. Lamarque and S. Haugon Olsen (eds.), Blackwell, 2004 and later, pp. 55--62. (7 pp.) Available at the university library (one paper copy). In compendium.
Dickie, George, “What is Art?. An Institutional Analysis”, Art and the Aesthetic: An Institutional Analysis, Cornell University Press, 1974, pp. 19–52. (33 pp.) Available at the university library (one paper copy). In compendium. (19-52)
Levinson, Jerrold, “Defining Art Historically”, British Journal of Aesthetics, Vol. Vol. 19, 1979, pp. 232-250. (18 pp.) Available online at the university library.
58 pp.
Theme 2: “Aesthetic attitude and aesthetic experience”
King, Alexandra, “Aesthetic Attitude”, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (21 pp.) Free online access.
Bullough, Edward, “’Psychical Distance”, In Aesthetics. A Comprehensive Anthology, S.M Cahn and A. Meskin (eds.), Blackwell, 2008, pp. 243–260. (17 pp.) (Focus on pp. 243–249.) In compendium.
Stolnitz, Jerome, “The Aesthetic Attitude”, In Art Criticism. A Critical Introduction, Riverside Press, 1960, pp. 29–64. (35 pp.) (Focus on pp. 29–47.) Available at the university library (one paper copy). In compendium.
Beardsley, “Aesthetic Experience”, In The Aesthetic Point of View, M.J. Wreen and D.M Callen (eds.), Cornell University Press, 1982, pp. 285-297. (12 pp.) Available at the university library (one paper copy). In compendium.
Dickie, George, “The Myth of the Aesthetic Attitude”, American Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 1, 1964, pp. 56-65. (9 pp.) Available online at the university library.
Brand, Peggy Zeglin, “Disinterestedness and Political Art”, In Aesthetics. The Big Questions, C. Korsmeyer (ed.), Blackwell, 1999, pp. 155–171. (16 pp.) Available at the university library (one paper copy). In compendium.
110 pp.
Theme 3: “Aesthetic Properties”
Abell, Catherine, “Canny Resemblance”, Philosophical Review, Vol. 118, 2009, pp. 183–223. (40 pp.) (Good but difficult paper. Focus on how Abell solves problems for resemblance views on depiction. Skip pp. 209–217.) Available online at the university library.
Levinson, Jerrold, “Musical Expressiveness as Hearability-as-Expression”, Contemplating Art: Essays in Aesthetics, Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 91–108. (17 pp.) Available online at the university library.
Baugh, Bruce, “Prolegomena to Any Future Aesthetics of Rock Music”, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 51, 1993, pp. 23-29. (6 pp.) Available online at the university library.
Sibley, Frank, “Aesthetic Concepts”, Approach to Aesthetics: Collected Papers on Philosophical Aesthetics, Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 1–24. (23 pp.) Available online at the university library.
86 pp.
Theme 4: “Aesthetic value”
Carroll, Noël, “Art and Ethical Criticism: An Overview of Recent Directions of Research”, Ethics, Vol. 110, 2000, pp. 350–387. (37 pp.) Available online at the university library.
Hume, David, “Of the Standard of Taste”, Four Dissertations, Cambridge:
Chadwyck-Healey, 1999, 206–240.(36 pp.) Available online at the university library.
Railton, Peter, “Aesthetic Value, Moral Value, and the Ambitions of Naturalism”, In Aesthetics and Ethics, J. Levinson (ed.), Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 59–105. (46 pp.) Available at the university library (one paper copy). In compendium.
Kivy, Peter, “A Failure of Aesthetic Emotivism”, Philosophical Studies, Vol. 38, 1980, pp. 351–365. (14 pp.) Available online at the university library.
King, Alexandra, “The Amoralist and the Anaesthetic”, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, forthcoming, pp. 1–32. (Focus on pp. 1–20.) (31 pp.) Available online at the university library.
164 pp.
Theme 5: “Interpretation”
Hirsch, E.D. “In Defense of the Author”, In Intention and Interpretation, G. Iseminger (ed).) Temple University Press, 1992, pp. 11–23. (12 pp) Available at the university library (one paper copy). In compendium.
Beardsley, Monroe C. “The Authority of the Text”, In Intention and Interpretation, G. Iseminger (ed).) Temple University Press, 1992, pp. 24–40. (16 pp.) Available at the university library (one paper copy). In compendium.
Levinson, Jerrold, “Intention and Interpretation in Literature”, In Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art. The Analytic Tradition, P. Lamarque and S. Haugon Olsen (eds.), Blackwell, 2004 and later, pp. 200–222. (22 pp. ) Available at the university library (one paper copy). In compendium.
50 pp.
Number of pages in articles: 468 pp.
Total number of pages: 781 pp.