Philosophy and Art

Phil 160

Professor William Seeley, 169 LSP

wiliam.seeley@fandm.edu

Course Description: 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 particular artworks are considered special at all. Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy concerned with answers to just these types of 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? We will also discuss a range of philosophical issues associated with particular art forms. Finally, despite disagreements about the nature of art most would agree that 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 philosophical aesthetics can contribute to an understanding of art.

Course Goals: The aim of this course is to 1) introduce students to the field of philosophical aesthetics by 2) working through both some its foundational works and some contemporary problems. Our approach will be both historical and topical. Philosophy is a living art. We will try, throughout the semester, to see what we as contemporary aestheticians can glean about the practices we call art from the historical sources with which we will begin. Along the way the student will be introduced to characteristic philosophical methods. These methods are designed to help one think clearly and critically about arguments in general, and are indispensable philosophical tools.

Requirements: There will be a short 3-4 page writing assignment early in the semester, a 6 page mid-term paper on an assigned topic, a six page final paper on a topic of your choosing, and a final exam. The goal of these assignments is to encourage the student to think through the problems of aesthetics and the philosophy of art on their own. Student class participation is a requirement. Attendance is a minimum requirement for student participation. As a result, excessive absence will effect a student’s final grade.

Required Texts:

Noel Carroll, Philosophy of Art (New York: Routledge, 1999). (NC)

George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, Ronald Roblin, Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, (New York: Bedford/ St.Martin’s, 1989). (A)

Peter Lamarque and Stein Haugum Olsen, Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2004) (LO)

Readings on EDisk. (EDisk)

Readings: What follows on is a provisional schedule of readings. This schedule may change, as may the readings within it, as a result of class interests and time constraints. Any changes will be announced in class prior to the date of the change of assignment. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice practice practice. The same is true of understanding philosophy. In order to understand it, you must practice doing it. We will DO a lot of philosophy in class. But the process starts at home with you carefully working through the arguments in each reading. As a result, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for you to keep on top of the readings.

Schedule of Readings:

Topic 1: The Philosophy of Art

What is Philosophy of Art?:

Carroll: “Chapter 1, Introduction” (NC)

Stecker: “Is it Reasonable to Try to Define Art” (eDisk)

Representation:

Carroll: “Chapter 2, Art and Representation” (NC)

Plato: excerpts from Ion & Republic (A)

Aristotle: excerpts from Poetics (A)

Goodman: “Reality Remade,” from Languages of Art (eDisk)

Expressionism:

Carrol: “Chapter 2, Art and Expression” (NC)

Tolstoy: What is Art? (excerpts) (A)

Collingwood: The Principles of Art (excerpts) (A)

Form:

Bell: “The Aesthetic Hypothesis” (A)

Carroll: “Chapter 3, Art and Form” (NC)

Eldridge: “Form and Content: An Aesthetic Theory of Art” (eDisk)

Anti-Essentialism, Institutional and Historicist Theories of Art:

Weitz: “The Role of Theory in Aesthetics” (LO)

Mandelbaum: “Family Resemblances and Generalization Concerning the Arts” (A)

Gaut: “Art’ as a Cluster Concept” (EDisk)

Danto: “The Artworld” (A)

Dickie: “The New Institutional Theory of Art” (LO)

Levinson: “Defining Art Historically” (LO)

Topic 2: Aesthetics & The Philosophy of Art

Hume: Of the Standard of Taste (excerpts) (A)

Kant: Critique of Judgment (excerpts) (A)

Stolnitz: “The Aesthetic Attitude” (A)

Dickie: The Myth of the Aesthetic Attitude (A)

Beardsley: “An Aesthetic Definition of Art “(eDisk)

Carroll: “Beauty and the Genealogy of Art Theory” (eDisk)

Carroll: “Aesthetic Experience Revisited” (eDisk)

Sibley: “Aesthetic Concepts” (A)

Walton: “Categories of Art” (A)

Topic 3: Philosophy of the Arts

What is painting about?

Greenberg: “Modernist Painting” (eDisk)

Gombrich: “The Analysis of Vision in Art” (eDisk)

Danto: “Art and Meaning” (EDisk)

Music:

Levinson: “What a Musical Work Is” (LO)

Scruton: “Understanding Music” (LO)

Robinson: “The Expression and Arousal of Emotion in Music” (LO)

Dance:

Langer: “Virtual Powers” (excerpts from Feeling & Form) (eDisk)

Beardsley: “What is Going on In Dance” (A)

Carroll and Banes: “Working and Dancing” (A)

Photography:

Walton: “Transparent Pictures” (eDisk)

Currie: “Photography, Painting, and Perception” (eDisk)

Film:

Carroll: “The Power of Movies” (LO)

Currie: “Film, Reality, and Illusion” (eDisk)

Neill: “Empathy in (Film) Fiction” (eDisk)

Carroll: “Simulation, Emotions, and Morality” (eDisk)

Literature:

Beardsley: “Intentions and Interpretation: A Fallacy Revived” (LO)

Levinson: “Intention & Interpretation in Literature” (LO)

Carroll: “Actual and Hypothetical Intentionalism” (LO)

Bibliography:

Topic 1: Definitions of Art

Noël Carroll, “Chapter 1, Introduction,” Philosophy of Art (New York: Routledge, 1999), 1-17.

Robert Stecker, “Is it Reasonable to Try to Define Art,” in ed. Noël Carroll, Theories of Art today (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2000), 45-64.

Noël Carroll, “Chapter 2, Art and Representation," Philosophy of Art (New York: Routledge, 1999), 18-57.

Plato, “excerpts from Ion & Republic,” in eds. George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, Ronald Roblin, Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, (New York: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 1989), 10-31.

Aristotle, “excerpts from Poetics,” in eds. George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, Ronald Roblin, Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, (New York: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 1989), 32-47.

Nelson Goodman, “Reality Remade,” Languages of Art (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 1976), 3-44.

Noël Carroll, Chapter 2, "Art and Expression," Philosophy of Art (New York: Routledge, 1999), 58-106.

Leo Tolstoy, What is Art? (excerpts), in eds. George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, Ronald Roblin, Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, (New York: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 1989), 57-63.

R. G. Collingwood, The Principles of Art (excerpts), in eds. George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, Ronald Roblin, Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, (New York: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 1989), 96-118.

Clive Bell, “The Aesthetic Hypothesis,” in eds. George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, Ronald Roblin, Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, (New York: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 1989), 73-83.

Noël Carroll, “Chapter 3, Art and Form," Philosophy of Art (New York: Routledge, 1999), 107-154.

Richard Eldridge, “Form and Content: An Aesthetic Theory of Art,” The British Journal of Aesthetics, 25(4), 1985, 303-316.

Morris Weitz, “The Role of Theory in Aesthetics,” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 15(1) 1956, 27-35.

Maurice Mandelbaum, “Family Resemblances and Generalization Concerning the Arts,” in eds. George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, Ronald Roblin, Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, (New York: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 1989),138-151.

Berys Gaut, “Art’ as a Cluster Concept,” in ed. Noël Carroll, Theories of Art today (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2000), 25-44.

Arthur Danto, “The Artworld,” in eds. George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, Ronald Roblin, Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, (New York: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 1989), 171-182.

George Dickie, “The New Institutional Theory of Art,” in ed. Peter Lamarque and Stein Haugum Olsen, Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2004), 47-54.

Jerrold Levinson, ”Defining Art Historically,” in ed. Peter Lamarque and Stein Haugum Olsen, Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2004), 35-46.

Topic 2: Aesthetics & The Philosophy of Art

David Hume, “Of the Standard of Taste,” in eds. George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, Ronald Roblin, Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, (New York: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 1989), 242-253

Immanuel Kant, Critique of Judgment, in eds. George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, Ronald Roblin, Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, (New York: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 1989), 287-305.

Jerome Stolnitz, “The Aesthetic Attitude,” in eds. George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, Ronald Roblin, Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, (New York: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 1989), 334-341.

George Dickie, “The Myth of the Aesthetic Attitude,” in eds. George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, Ronald Roblin, Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, (New York: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 1989), 342-355.

Monroe Beardsley, "An Aesthetic Definition of Art," in ed. Peter Lamarque and Stein Haugum Olsen, Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2004), 55-62.

Noël Carroll, “Beauty and the Genealogy of Art Theory,” The Philosophical Forum, 22(4), 1991, 307-334.

Noël Carroll, “Aesthetic Experience Revisited,” British Journal of Aesthetics, 42(2), 2002, 145-168.

Frank Sibley, “Aesthetic Concepts,” in eds. George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, Ronald Roblin, Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, (New York: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 1989), 355-374.

Kendall Walton, “Categories of Art,” in eds. George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, Ronald Roblin, Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, (New York: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 1989), 394-414.

Topic 3: Philosophy of the Arts

Clement Greenberg, “Modernist Painting,” in ed. John O’Brian, Clement Greenberg: The Collected Essays, Volume 4 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 85-94.

E. H. Gombrich, “The Analysis of Vision in Art,” Art and Illusion (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1960), 291-329.

Arthur Danto, “Art and Meaning,” in ed. Noël Carroll, Theories of Art today (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2000), 130-140.

Jerrold Levinson, “What a Musical Work Is,” in ed. Peter Lamarque and Stein Haugum Olsen, Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2004), 35-46.

Roger Scruton, “Understanding Music,” in ed. Peter Lamarque and Stein Haugum Olsen, Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2004), 35-46.

Jenefer Robinson, “The Expression and Arousal of Emotion in Music,” in ed. Peter Lamarque and Stein Haugum Olsen, Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2004), 35-46.

Suzanne Langer, “Virtual Powers” Feeling and Form (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1953) 169-187.

Monroe Beardsley, “What is Going on In Dance?” in eds. George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, Ronald Roblin, Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, (New York: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 1989), 635-643.

Carroll and Banes, “Working and Dancing,” in eds. George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, Ronald Roblin, Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, (New York: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 1989), 644-650.

Kendall Walton, “Transparent Pictures”, Critical Inquiry, 11,1984, 256-277.

Gregory Currie, "Photography, Painting, and Perception," Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 49(1), 23-29.

Noël Carroll, "The Power of Movies," in ed. Peter Lamarque and Stein Haugum Olsen, Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2004), 485-497.

Gregory Currie, "Film, Reality, and Illusion," in David Bordwell & Noël Carroll, Post-Theory (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996), 325-344

Alex Neill, “Empathy in (Film) Fiction,” in David Bordwell & Noël Carroll, Post-Theory (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996),175-194.

Noël Carroll, “Simulation, Emotions, and Morality, in Beyond Aesthetics (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 306-317.

Monroe Beardsley, “Intentions and Interpretation: A Fallacy Revived,” in ed. Peter Lamarque and Stein Haugum Olsen, Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2004), 189-199.

Jerrold Levinson, “Intention & Interpretation in Literature,” in ed. Peter Lamarque and Stein Haugum Olsen, Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2004), 200-222.

Noël Carroll, “Actual and Hypothetical Intentionalism,” in Beyond Aesthetics (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 306-317.