Aesthetics and Artistic Studies - 1st semester
Code
722031091
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
Objectives
1) To acquire advanced critical knowledge of the fundamental problems of Aesthetics and Artistic Studies.
2) To acquire advanced critical knowledge of how certain fundamental problems of Aesthetics and Artistic
Studies fit into the philosophical tradition.
3) To acquire the capacity to reflect on the relationship between the history of Aesthetics and the history of Art
and Culture.
4) To understand the relevance of the philosophical tradition for the understanding of contemporary issues of art
and artistic practices.
Prerequisites
n.a.
Subject matter
This seminar is a reflection on the history of Aesthetics, from Plato and Aristotle up to our own time, with special focus on Kant and Nietzsche, but also on more recent authors, such as Deleuze and Rancière. This aims to show to that the study of the history of Aesthetics remains crucial today for any research within the several áreas of the Artistic Studies. To this end, the seminar will analyse some of the most fundamental questions of the History of Aesthetics:
1. The definition of “Art” (essencialism vs. pluralism)
2. Mimesis and truth (Plato, Aristotle, Kant)
3. Art and subjectivity (Nietzsche & Deleuze)
4. Art and Purposiveness/ art and values (Kant, Nietzsche, Rancière)
5. Beauty and the rejection of betauty in Contemporary Art
6. The sublime
Bibliography
CONSTÂNCIO, João, Arte e niilismo: Nietzsche e o enigma do mundo, Lisboa, tinta-da-china, 2013
GAUT, Berys/ LOPES, Dominic M., The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics, Third Edition, London/ New York, Routledge, 2013
LEVINSON, Jerrold, The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003
PIPPIN, Robert B., After the Beautiful: Hegel and the Philosophy of Pictorial Modernism, London and Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2014
WICKS, Robert L., European Aesthetics: A Critical Introduction from Kant to Derrida, London, Oneworld, 2013
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%).