Assignment #7: Art and Morality

 1. Read: Ch 4; Ravasio, "What is the Connection Between Art and Morality?"

For discussion:

I. Interaction between artistic and moral value

A. Anti-interactionism

1. What is the basic thesis of anti-interactionism?

2. How do radical autonomism and moderate autonomism differ?

B. Interactionism

1. What is the basic thesis of interactionism?

2. What is the "emotional uptake argument" of moderate moralism?

3. What criticisms can we raise of moderate moralism? (Uptake despite flaw)

4. What is the central thesis of ethicism?

5. How might we critique ethicism? (Circularity?; non-ethical nature of imaginary objects?)

6. What is the basic thesis of immoralism (along with any potential critiques)? (Cog. Immoral. --Merely apparent immorality?)

II. Art and moral knowledge: can art inform or shape our moral outlook?

1. On what bases do anti-interactionists reject the claim that art can teach us anything about morality?

2. How does Nussbaum (an interactionist/moderate moralist) reply?

Assignment #6: Art and Emotion

1. Begin reading chapter 3: Fasula, "What is the connection between artworks and emotion?"

For discussion:

Introduction 

1. What are the 3 ways art can express emotion?

2. What is the relation between expressivism and lyricism?

Part I: expression theory

3. Why did Tolstoy replace beauty and pleasure with expression in defining art?

4. What are the 4 assumptions underlying Tolstoy's theory?

5. How did Collingwood's theory differ from Tolstoy's?

6. What objections can be raised to both theories?

7. What problems of identity exist within the expression theories?

Part II: elicitation and representation 

1. How do elicitation and representation (as forms of emotional expression) differ from the expressivism of section 1?

2. What is the role of rhetoric and other artistic forms and techniques?

3. What does Danto mean when he suggests that emotions -- unlike sense impressions -- require justification?

Part III autonomous expression

1. Can artworks express themselves?

2. What is the role of (metaphorical) exemplification in explaining this form of innate expression?

Assignment #5: Conceptual Art: Danto

In the following essay, Danto provides us with a (widely referenced) postmodernist account of the nature and value of conceptual art.

1. Read: Danto, "The Artworld" (we will discuss only sections I-III):

The Artworld

Questions for discussion:

1. What is the "imitation theory" and what is the significance of his realist alternative (RT)?

2. What explains Testadura's limited understanding of art?

3. What is the "is" of artistic identification? (What other senses of "is" are there?)

4. How does Danto employ "sea meets sky" in defense of conceptual art?

5. What allows us to distinguish Warhol's Brillo Box from any other box of Brillo pads? (This, for short, is the "problem of perceptually indistinguishable counterparts" or PIC.)

A critique of Danto:

Arthur Danto’s “The End of Art”: Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. – Art & Crit by Eric Wayne (artofericwayne.com)

Summary of modernist vs. postmodernist art

 Modernism vs. Postmodernism: Two Genres Explained in 6 Facts and 13 Artworks | TheCollector

Areas to review for Quiz #1

(We will compose substantive, unambiguously true or false statements on the following content in class on Friday, 2/26 for our quiz #1 scheduled for Monday 3/2.)

1. Definitions of "philosophy" and "aesthetics"

2. Westenburgs chapter on "Aesthetics" (i.e., defining aesthetic judgment using a continuum from personal to objective/universal; distinction between liking and judging; disinterested interest and Kant; source/nature of "appropriate" responses to the aesthetic)

3. Nehamas on beauty (i.e., problem of the Kantian notion which is concept-free but also universally valid, along with Nehama's alternative; meaning of phrase "beauty is the promise of happiness"; how an object can lose its beauty for someone; the idea that the pursuit of beauty can be dangerous or requires communication).

4. First 2 sections of Chapter 2 on Art (Imitation/representation & Formalism). Plato vs. Aristotle on art; difference between imitation and representation; nature of conceptual art; Modernism vs. post-modernism; significant form (and post-modern critique thereof).

Assignment #4: Art

1. We will continue to discuss Nehamas on Wednesday.  After that, we'll begin chapter 2 of our text ("What is a work of Art," by Hudson-Miles and Broadey).

2. The latter is divided into 6 sections, each addressing briefly a distinct approach to understanding/defining art. The first approaches art as representational or imitative.

Questions for consideration (along with any others you raise):

1.

a. What definitional concerns are raised in the initial paragraphs of the chapter?

b. Contrast Plato's characterization of art with Aristotle's.

c. What's the difference between imitation and representation?

d. What is conceptual art?

2.

a. Distinguish modernism from postmodernism.

b. Describe the modernist notion of significant form (Bell, Fry, Kant, Greenberg).

c. What do postmodernists say about "pure form"?

3.

a. Describe Tolstoy's expressivist view of art.

b. What is Collingwood's critique of Tolstoy?

c. How do Deleuze and Giattari extend the notion of expression?

4.

a. What is disinterested interest?

b. What is Dickie's critique of disinterested interest? Do you agree?

5.

a. What is the nature and role of the "artworld" (Dickie and Danto)?

b. How does art lose its " aura," according to Benjamin?  Is that an unambiguously good thing in your view?

6.

a. How does Nietzsche's anti-essentialism differ from Kant's conception of the free play of the imagination underlying disinterested interest?

b. How/why does Ranciere poloticize aesthetics?

c. Must -- as the anti-essentialists and deconstructionists maintain -- al concept of art's essence remain " blind to the sensuous particularity and heterogeneity of works of art?

Assignment #3: Nehamas, Beauty, Judgment

 1. read: Nehamas, "An Essay on Beauty and Judgment"

(99+) An Essay on Beauty and Judgment

Note: I will not hold class on Wednesday, February 18th.  (Monday the 16th is a holiday; I will hold class on Friday the 20th).

Assignment #2: What is Aesthetics?

Things to do:

1. We will discuss in our next class brief definitions of both "aesthetics" and "philosophy."  We will then move on to: 

2. Chapter 1, Westenberg, "What is Aesthetics?" (You might also read the "Introduction" by Valery Vino.)

3. Raise at least 2 substantive questions (that is, questions not easily answered by a quick google search) about Ch 1.  Write them down in your notebook dedicated to this seminar and be prepared voluntarily to share them in class.

4. Again, I suggest printing out these chapters.  I can help those with any printer access issues.

Assignment #1: Defininitions, handout CPE, syllabus

Welcome to Art and Philosophy.

Things to do:

1. Research the terms "philosophy" and "aesthetics." Find definitions that strike you as inclusive, interesting, or instructive and bring them to class in a dedicated (section of a) notebook.

2. Read Handout CPE; review the syllabus. Raise any questions about these documents in our next class.