PHIL 203
Philosophy of Art & Beauty
This course is an exploration of aesthetics and the philosophy of art. In the course, we will explore core topics including representation and depiction, intentionalism and anti-intentionalism, fiction and make-believe, and expression and emotion in different artistic media including painting, photography,
film, dance, craft, and literature. Here are some questions we will be asking.
• How does a drawing or painting represent or depict something? What makes drawing or painting “realistic”? What makes an abstract work about anything?
• Is the meaning of a work determined by the artist’s intentions? If not, what does determine its meaning?
For example, Jonathon Swift’s A Modest Proposal advocates eating children to deal with the Irish famine. “I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled...
In the text, there are no clues that is ironical. But, if this is ironic and surely it is, then this must be because he intends it to be read as ironic. Should literary criticism then be about the minds of artists?
• What makes something fictional? Are we really afraid of Regan McNeil in The Exorcist? How can we feel empathy for the parents in A Tokyo Story? We know the events are not real, so how can we feel genuine emotion?
• How can instrumental music express emotions? Why is Miles Davis’ Blue in Green thought to be sad? After all, there are no sad lyrics and Davis himself doesn’t seem sad playing it.
• Many of us find nature beautiful, awesome, scary, and the like. In fact, we have really important aesthetic experiences there. However, nature, in general, is not an artifact. It isn’t designed. How then are we supposed to appreciate it? Is the most appropriate way to do so as a scientist or a natural historian? Do we get something wrong aesthetically if we misclassify a bird, tree, or rock?
• A lot of the discussion about aesthetics by philosophers, art historians, and even artists themselves focuses on artworks. However, many people create objects, which are best thought of as crafts. For example, a surprisingly large number of people sew and create beautiful objects as the result. What is the difference between art and craft? Why do people often have different attitudes toward them (if we do)?
• What is art? What unifies George Saunders Civilwarland in Bad Decline, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater House, Twombly’s Untitled, the Talking Head’s “Burning Down the House,” Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, The Exorcist, and countless other objects as “art”? Is there a single account of what art is that adequately reflects the variety of artworks?
Grading
In this course, your grade will be determined by two tests, a final exam, question submissions, workshop grade, surprise quizzes and participation. Your final grade is determined as follows:
Two tests (2 × 15%)
Final Exam (10%)
Questions (10%)
Workshops (25%)
Quizzes (15%)
Participation (10%)
Course Schedule
Tentative Schedule
Here is our schedule which is of course revisable.
Week 1 Introduction
Day 1: Introduction to class and Asking/Answering Philosophical Questions (in class exercise)
Day 2: “Works of Art and Mere Real Things,” Arthur C. Danto
Week 2 Depiction
Day 1: “Seeing-as, Seeing-in, and Pictorial Representation,” Richard Wollheim G1
Day 2: “Pictorial Realism,” Catherine Abell G2
Day 3: Friday Workshop
Week 3 Photography
Day 1: “Transparent Pictures,” Kendall L. Walton G3
Day 2: “Why Photography Doesn’t Represent Artistically,” Roger Scruton G4
Day 3: Friday Workshop
Week 4 Film
Day 1: “Woman as Image, Man as Bearer of the Look,” Laura Mulvey G5
Day 2: “Beauty and Evil: the Case of Leni Riefenstahl,” Mary Devereaux G6
Day 3: Friday Workshop
Week 5 Expression
Day 1: “The Expression of Emotion in Music,” Stephen Davis G1
Day 2: “A New Romantic Theory of Expression,” Jenefer Robinson G2
Day 3: Friday Workshop
First Exam
Week 6 Expression
Day 1: “The Air of Pictures,” Dominic Lopes G3
Day 2: Buffer
Fall Break
Week 7 Music
Day 1: “Ontology of Music,” Ben Caplan and Carl Matheson G4
Day 2: “Can White People Sing the Blues?” Joel Rubinow G5
Day 3: Friday Workshop
Week 8 Fiction
Day 1: James Young "Cultural Appropriation and the Arts"
Chapter 1 G6
Day 2: Rowell: "Politics of Cultural Appropriation" G1
Day 3: Friday Workshop
Week 9 Literature
Day 1: “The Intention of the Author,” Monroe Beardsley G2
Day 2: “Criticism as Retrieval,” Richard Wollheim G3
Day 3: Friday Workshop
Week 10 Dance
Day 1: “What is Going on in a Dance?” Monroe C. Beardsley G4
Day 2: “Appreciating Dance: The View from the Audience,” Aili Bresnahan G5
Day 3: Friday Workshop
Second Exam
Week 11 Aesthetics of the Everyday
Day 1: “Everyday Aesthetics,” Yuriko Saiko G6
Day 2: “The Distinction between Art and Craft,” Julie Markovitz
Day 3: Friday Workshop
Week 12 Aesthetics of Nature
Day 1: “Appreciation and the Natural Environment,” Allen Carlson
Thanksgiving Break
Week 13 Aesthetics of Nature; What is Art?
Day 1: “Scientific Knowledge and the Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature,” Patricia Matthews
Day 2: “The Role of Theory in Aesthetics,” Morris Weitz
Day 3: Friday Workshop
Week 14 What is Art?
Day 1: Art as a Social Institution, George Dickie
Third Exam
Week 15 Finals
Final Exam