Aesthetics

Philosophy 22

Fall 2003, TF 10:50 – 12:05

Brooklyn College

Professor Bill Seeley

What is Art? What makes a photograph on the wall at the Museum of Modern Art different from the one on the front page of the Daily News? What makes a landscape painting more (or less!) interesting than a snapshot? Our commonsense understanding of art tells us that artworks are in some way special. Art is often beautiful. It is sometimes provocative and controversial. But it is notoriously difficult to identify just what it is that makes artworks unique. In fact, it is sometimes difficult to understand why artworks are considered special at all.

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy concerned with answers to just these questions. In this course we will examine four broad issues that have defined philosophical aesthetics: What is the relationship between art and representation? What does it mean to say that an artwork expresses an emotion? What role does the formal structure of artworks play in explanations of art? What is an aesthetic experience, and what role, if any, does our knowledge of a culture play in shaping these experiences?

Despite questions raised about the nature of art, one thing is for certain, art must be experienced to be understood. Therefore, throughout the course we will look at particular artworks as illustrations of the views discussed in order to examine what aesthetics can contribute to an understanding of art.

(syllabus)