Introduction to Aesthetics module (PI11005)

This module gives you an introduction to the basic terminology of aesthetics as a philosophical subject.

Through engagement with both ancient and modern conceptions of the relationship between art and philosophy, you will identify and critique key stages in the development of this relationship.

We begin by looking at Plato and Aristotle’s contrasting views on mimesis. After that, we look at how our modern conception of ‘aesthetics’ developed, drawing on Kant’s famous work on the ‘beautiful’ and the ‘sublime’, as well as Schopenhauer’s response to Plato. We conclude by examining a series of more contemporary interventions (from Freud, Kristeva, Despret, and Grosz) that will allow us to challenge and re-imagine aspects of the aesthetic ‘canon’.

Throughout the course, we make use of up-to-date examples of art and literature to consider the theories examined each week, and students are encouraged to participate by suggesting examples for class consideration.

What you will learn

In this module, you will:

• consider and learn to articulate the relationship between philosophy and art
• reflect on what it is to be creative (i.e. the extent to which art practice is philosophical and the extent to which philosophy is an artistic practice)
• reflect on aesthetic experience and its modalities/tonalities (e.g. boredom, ugliness, beauty, the abject, the disgusting, the terrifying, the sublime, the tragic)
• engage with a recognised 'canon' of aesthetics (e.g. Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Schopenhauer), and develop a distinctive 'counter-canon' (e.g. Freud, Kristeva, Despret, and Grosz)

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• articulate how aesthetics historically emerges as a distinct branch of philosophy
• articulate and evaluate how aesthetics compares to other key branches of philosophy (e.g. ethics, epistemology, metaphysics)
• critique and reflect on the benefits and limits of key argument patterns (e.g. argument from analogy, argument by elimination)

Assignments / assessment

• photograph task and 8 weekly discussion points for tutorials (30%)
• final essay 1,500 words (70%)

Teaching methods / timetable

• lectures
• tutorials
• practical tasks