Aesthetics and Ontology - 1st semester
Code
722031042
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Filosofia
Credits
10
Teacher in charge
João Pardana Constâncio
Weekly hours
3 letivas + 1 tutorial
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
To acquire advanced critical knowledge of fundamental theses and problems of Aesthetics and Ontology.
2) To acquire advanced critical knowledge of how certain fundamental theses and problems of Aesthetics and Ontology fit into the philosophical tradition.
3) To acquire the capacity to reflect on the relationship between the history of Aesthetics and Ontology and the history of Art and Culture.
4) To understand the relevance of the philosophical tradition for the understanding of contemporary issues of Aesthetics and Ontology.
Prerequisites
Not applicable
Subject matter
The starting-point of the course will be a study of Gilles Deleuze’s book, Francis Bacon, The Logic of Sensation. According to Deleuze, Bacon’s work escapes the logic of representation (or figuration) and it implicitly implies the rejection of the modern conception of the “subject”, so that it also envolves the rejection of modern (e.g. Kantian) conceptions of the artist and artistic creation, as well as of the spectator and the “sensation” that constitutes the perspective of the spectator. The course will try to show that this problematization of representation and subjectivity in Deleuze’s thought is rooted in his engagement with Nietzsche. By going back to Nietzsche, however, the course will will engage in a critical discussion of whether Nietzsche’s and Deleuze’s critiques of modernity actually overcome the modern conceptions of representation and subjectivity.
Bibliography
CONSTÂNCIO, João, Arte e niilismo. Nietzsche e o enigma do mundo, Lisboa, tinta-da-china, 2013
CONSTÂNCIO, João/ BRANCO, Maria João Mayer/ RYAN, Bartholomew (eds.), Nietzsche and the Problem of Subjectivity, Berlin/ Boston, De Gruyter, 2015
DELEUZE, Gilles, Francis Bacon. Logique de la sensation, Éditions du Seuil, 1981 (repr. 2002)
DELEUZE, Gilles, Francis Bacon, Lógica da Sensação, trad. J. M. Justo, Lisboa, Orfeu Negro,2011
MARTON, Scarlett/ BRANCO, Maria João Mayer/ CONSTÂNCIO, João (org.), Sujeito, décadence e arte. Nietzsche e a modernidade, Lisboa e Rio de Janeiro, tinta-da-china, 2014
NIETZSCHE, F., Kritische Studienausgabe, Colli, G./ Montinari, M. (ed.), Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 1980, 15 vols.
Teaching method
(a) most classes are dialogued lectures, (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 — of previously presented themes and problems.
Within the context of a protocol signed 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 course’s themes.
Evaluation method
(d) students are evaluated by a mandatory 12 pages essay (70%);
(e) students are also evaluated by an oral presentation of their essay (20%);
(f) a positive participation in the classes is valued (10%).