Aesthetics
Code
73203103
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Filosofia
Credits
10
Teacher in charge
João Pardana Constâncio
Weekly hours
2
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
a) To acquire the capacity to distinguish the \"process\" that leads to the creation of works of art from other processes and the kinds of activity.
b) To acquire the capacity to problematize the classical categories of Aesthetics, as for instance \"aesthetic experience\", \"aesthetic value\", \"creative subject\", \"beauty\", \"aesthetic attitude\".
c) To acquire advanced knowledge of the main aesthetic theories.
Prerequisites
Not applicable
Subject matter
The main idea discussed in this course is that artistic creation depends on the existence of a community. The starting point will be, firstly, the detailed analysis of the concept of sensus communis in Kants Critique of Judgment and its interpretation in Hannah Arendts lectures on Kants political philosophy. Secondly, the course tries to establish that (a) a judgment (indeed a collective judgment) on works of art is a condition of possibility of works of art themselves (so that artistic creation has a collective dimension) and (b) the judgment of taste is never merely private, but rather a judgment that is always (even if implicitly) directed at a sensus communis and, hence, at a community of human beings.
Bibliography
-ARENDT, Hannah, Lectures on Kants Political Philosophy, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1992
-KANT, Immanuel, Kritik der Urteilskraft, in: Kant, I., Gesammelte Schriften, ed. Königliche Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften/ Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin, Walter De Gruyter, 1955-1966, vol. 5
-KANT, Immanuel, Crítica da Faculdade de Juízo, Introdução de António Marques, tradução e notas de António Marques e Valério Rohden, Lisboa, Imprensa Nacional - Casa da Moeda, 1998
-MONDZAIN, Marie-José, Homo spectator, Bayard Éditions, Paris, 2007
-MONDZAIN, Marie-José, A imagem pode matar?, Vega, Lisboa, 2009, Marie-José, Le commerce des regards, Éditions du Seuil, Paris, 2003
Teaching method
(a) most classes are \"expositive\", (b) several of them work as a \"seminar\" (with reading, commentary, and analyses of texts), (c) other classes (so-called \"practical\" classes) consist in critical discussions with the students about previously presented themes and problems.
In collaboration with the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, the philosophical analyses of works of art will fundamentally focus on examples from the collections of the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian and the Centro de Arte Moderna (CAM). Maria João Branco will teach a set of classes on key-works of the CAM and their relevance for the courses themes.
Evaluation method
(a) students are evaluated by a mandatory 12 pages essay; (b) students are also evaluated by an oral presentation of their essay; (c) a positive participation in the classes is valued; (d) the final mark results from the assessment of (a), (b), and (c) (the written essay cannot count less than 70% in this assessment).