The philosophical discipline of aesthetics includes problems in metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics, and examines questions regarding the nature and value of beauty, various types of art and art forms, self-expression, individual artworks, and aesthetic experiences. This course focuses on three related themes in aesthetics, found throughout the history of western philosophy: debates about whether aesthetic experience or the arts are a form of presentation, representation, or cognition of truth; theories of the disinterestedness or immediacy of beauty, pleasure, and other aesthetic properties, and associated theories of artistic formalism; and inquiries into the value of art and aesthetic experiences.

Issues stemming from these themes that we may cover include but are not limited to: the importance or possibility of ascertaining the artist’s intention; the validity of emotional response to, involvement with, and interpretation of artworks; why we take pleasure in or at least continue to behold things such as tragedy and horror films; how the arts and aesthetic practices can create, perpetuate, or undermine positions of power and privilege, and their relationship to social and political freedom; connections of art and aesthetic experience with the self-expression and self-identity of individuals, communities, and cultures. Along the way, particular artworks and aesthetic practices will be considered and used as examples to illustrate points in the readings and in class discussions, while being mindful of their historical and cultural contexts.

Prerequisites: Students must have successfully completed both English 120 (or equivalent) and at least one philosophy course in order to register for this course; no exceptions will be made. It is strongly suggested that you have taken a course in philosophy other than or in addition to Philo 103 or logic (such as 101, 104, 106, or any 200-level course). We will be reading difficult texts closely, lectures and class discussions will be held at a high level of sophistication, and this is a writing-intensive (W) course that requires students to write long philosophy papers, so some background in philosophy will be helpful.

Required Readings: Readings will include but are not limited to selections from T.W. Adorno, Aristotle, Roland Barthes, Clive Bell, Walter Benjamin, Ernst Cassirer, Arthur C. Danto, John Dewey, Michel Foucault, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Jürgen Habermas, G.W.F. Hegel, Martin Heidegger, Johann Gottfried von Herder, Max Horkheimer, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Alain Locke, Herbert Marcuse, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martha Nussbaum, José Ortega y Gasset, Plato, Mark Rothko, Friedrich Schiller, Richard Shusterman, Susan Sontag, Leo Tolstoy. 

All readings will be available on the Blackboard website. Students are required to print and bring the readings for each day to class (thus should have daily internet access but are not required to buy a book). Should you prefer to obtain the various texts from bookstores or libraries, feel free to email the instructor at any time before the start of the semester for a detailed reading list, or with any questions, at rfalke@hunter.cuny.edu.