¢ Philosophy and the Arts ¢
Image: Sam Francis, Yunan, 1972, Lithograph
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Belmont University ¢ Spring 2020
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... First: Our Schedule ... Then: Our Syllabus ...
Reading & Assignment Schedule:
- Notes:
- ✤ TEXT: Art and its Significance: An Anthology of Aesthetic Theory, third edition, ed. Stephen David Ross (New York: State University of New York Press, 1994). ISBN: 978-0791418529. List Price: $31.95.
- ✤ Readings & Assignments due ON day listed.
- ✤ Read the assigned selections slowly, thoroughly, thoughtfully, then dedicatedly reflect upon them & Do 'Projects' assignments & bring the work to class throughout Jan. & March.
January
Week 1: What is Philosophy; What is Art; What is this Class?
- W. 8: Read: Syllabus, on Blackboard
Week 2: The Beautiful T.14: Last Day to Drop with Refund
- M. 13: Read: Kant’s Critique of Judgment, ‘Analytic of the Beautiful,’ in A&S, pp.98-113
- & Do: Jan. Project: (1) Find three works of art, each illustrating a judgment: the beautiful; the good; the pleasant; provide titles, creators’ names, and three brief points for each (in your own words, but textually accurate) of how/why each illustrates its judgment.
- W. 15: Re-Read: Kant’s ‘Analytic of the Beautiful’
- & Do: Jan. Project: (2) Delineate step-by-step instructions (textually accurate, but in your own words) for how to make a Kantian judgment of the Beautiful.
Week 3: Significant Form
- M. 20: No Classes - - MLK jr. Day
- W. 22: Read: Clive Bell’s Art, A&S, pp.185-190
- & Do: Jan. Project: (3) Select a work of art; after identifying its title and creator, list three points by which Bell would judge it (i.e., concerning its “significant form”), and three points about it Bell would prohibit for its judgment. (4) List and explain four points on aesthetic judgment where Bell and Kant agree.
Week 4: Formless Sublimity:
- M. 27: Read: Kant’s Critique of Judgment, ‘Analytic of the Sublime,’ in A&S, pp. 113-120
- & Do: Jan. Project: (5) List and explain two commonalities and two differences between the beautiful and the sublime. (6) Select two works that respectively illustrate the dynamic and mathematical; clearly identify the works selected and provide two points each explaining how each exemplifies its type of sublimity.
- W. 29: Re-Read: Kant’s ‘Analytic of the Sublime’ & Submit January Projects
February
Week 5: Form & Formless Sublimity to Sensation Itself
- M. 3: Read: Jean-François Lyotard’s “What is Postmodernism?”, in A&S, pp. 559-564
- W. 5: Read: Kasimir Malevich’s “Suprematism,” in A&S, pp. 667-672
Week 6: Emotional Expression / Expression of Emotions / Catharsis T.11: Last day to withdraw with a “W”
- M. 10: Read: R. G. Collingwood’s Principles of Art, in A&S, pp.191-201
- W. 12: Read: Tolstoy’s “What is Art?”, in A&S, pp. 177-181 & Lev Vygotsky’s The Psychology of Art, in A&S, pp. 521-523
Week 7: Near or Far? Consummatory Principle & Psychical Distance:
- M. 17: Read: Stephen Pepper’s The Work of Art, in A&S, pp. 326-330
- W. 19: Read: Edward Bullough’s “‘Psychical Distance’ as a Factor in Art and as an Aesthetic Principle,” in A&S, pp.457-467
Week 8: Mid-Term Projects Showcase:
- M. 24: Group Presentations … more information provided well prior …
- W. 26: Group Presentations
March
Week 9: The Analysis of Pure Experience of Order:
- M. 2: Read: Michel Foucault’s The Order of Things, in A&S, pp. 439-454
- & Do: March Project: (1) List one personal insight you make on Veláquez’s Las Meninas concerning each of the following topics Foucault mentions: (a) something about lines of sight; (b) something on brightness/darkness; (c) something on mirrors or windows; (d) something on the identities of figures.
- W. 4: Re-Read: Foucault’s The Order of Things
- & Do: March Project: (2) Foucault’s analysis of Las Meninas exemplified his experience of the ‘in-between,’ between codes of culture and theory; delineate (with brief explanation) four personal insights as to whether and how this method of aesthetic judgment is/isn’t valuable to you and/or today?
- M. 9: No Classes - - Spring Break (9th - 13th)
- W. 11: No Classes - - Spring Break (9th - 13th)
Week 10: Film as a Door:
- M. 16: Read: Elsaesser & Hagener’s “Cinema as Door: Screen and Threshold,” on Blackboard, pp.35-54
- & Do: March Project: (3) List five of their insights (with citations) that come from considering films like doors. (4) Select any film of your choice (clearly identify it) and explain how any one of their insights on doors illuminates something about the film for you.
- W. 18: Re-Read: Elsaesser & Hagener’s “Cinema as Door: Screen and Threshold”
- & Do: March Project: (5) Briefly research one ‘theorist’ and one ‘filmmakers & films’ reference listed here--Theorists: Edgar Morin (pp.37-38); Gerard Genette (41-42, 45); Mikhail Bakhtin (45-46); Garrett Stewart (47); Thierry Kuntzel (47-48); Filmmakers & Films: Ford’s The Searchers (35, 44, 46, 50); Buñuel’s Un Chien Andalou (35); Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. (39, 53); Allen’s Purple Rose of Cairo (39, 53-54); McTiernan’s Last Action Hero (39, 40); Sherman’s Rocky Horror Picture Show (42); Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction & Nolan’s Memento (43); Schoedsack & Pichel’s The Most Dangerous Game (47-48); Howitt’s Sliding Doors (50-51); Lynch’s Blue Velvet (50-51); Welles’ Citizen Kane (50-51); Matthias Müller’s Home Stories (52-53)—and, for both, list (a) what you’re researching; (b) its context in the essay; (c) two things relevant to this context you have thus learned about it from your outside research (clearly cite sources).
Week 11: From Synesthesia to Sensory Chastity: M.23: Last day to withdraw with a “WP”/”WF”
- M. 23: Read: Wassily Kandinsky’s “Concrete Art,” in A&S, pp. 673-676
- & Do: March Project: (6) Select any work of art (clearly noting what it is) as an example to describe/explain at least four points concerning his idea of ‘composition’. (7) List two ways you could use of his ideas on cross-sensory experience (what we’d call synesthesia) in your everyday art experience.
- W. 25: Read: Von Trier & Vinterberg’s “Dogma 95 Manifesto & Vow of Chastity,” on Blackboard.
- & Do: March Project: (8) Select one of their vows; list three of your own arguments for and three against it.
Week 12: Futurism as Politico-Artistic Revolution:
- M. 30: Read: F. T. Marinetti’s “Futurist Painting: Technical Manifesto,” in A&S, pp. 656-660
- & Do: March Project: (9) Select one of their ‘declarations’ and one of their ‘rejections’; for each, list three of your own arguments for or against it.
- W. 1: Read: Umberto Boccioni’s “Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture,” in A&S, pp.661-666
- & Do: March Project: (10) Select two of his final nine conclusions; list three of your own arguments for or against it. & Submit March Projects
Weeks 13-14: Power: Fetish. Effects: Regression:
- M. 6: Read: Theodor W. Adorno’s “On the Fetish-Character in Music …,” in A&S, pp. 539-547
- W. 8: Re-Read: Adorno’s “On the Fetish-Character in Music …,”
Week 15: Art as Liberator:
- M. 13: No Classes ~ Easter Break (9th - 13th)
- W. 15: Read: Herbert Marcuse’s The Aesthetic Dimension, in A&S, pp. 548-557
Week 16: Philosophy & The Arts
- M. 20: Last Class: {in-class: semester & final exam review}
~Final Exam~ Monday, April 27th, 2-4 p.m., in our regular classroom.
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Course Description:
“Philosophy and the Arts” investigates what is prompted by a confrontation with and contemplation of the creative arts broadly construed: explorations into the nature of beauty, the meaning and use of art, and the capacity of the various arts to communicate philosophical ideas. By reflecting on such topics, we can hone our abilities to grapple in canonical and contemporary debates about art’s nature, function, and goals, and thereby better understand the arts as expressions of philosophy or wisdom, which can make one a better thinker, a better artist, enliven one’s art experience, and generally vitalize all of life’s experiences.
We will examine countless facets of the many collisions between philosophy and the arts. Study an incredibly diverse palate of canonical philosophers, contemporary scholars, eminent cultural critics, and artists ranging from the famous to infamous to obscure. Engage projects that exercise rigorous reading and hermeneutical interpretation, critical and creative writing, rigorous textual discussions and creative dialogical exploration of ideas, informal and formal presentations, and include experiential options from attending events to doing art. And, within all this diversity, our course will coalesce around three interwoven questions:
What does “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” really mean? * Is beauty universal? * Is art necessarily beautiful? * What is the sublime? * Is its appreciation emotional or rational? * Is all aesthetic judgment subjective? * Who can judge art? * By what criteria do we judge art as art? * Is all art good art? * Is art evaluated by its form or content, the artwork or its reception? * Are all arts equal? * Is craft essentially different from art? * What is the purpose of art? i Can something useful be art? * Should art be privately owned? * Is art’s essence imitation or originality? * Is art’s origin & source the artwork or artist? i Can artists be trained or only born? * Can an artist be a critic and a critic an artist? * Is skill as important as imagination? * What is artistic genius? * What is the power of art? * How does the psychology of art relate to its social impact? * Should we censor art? * Should we censor political or commercial uses of art? * Does art speak? * How ought we look at, read, listen to, learn from art? * Does art have to have a message? * Can art ever not have meaning?
“Philosophy and the Arts” investigates what is prompted by a confrontation with and contemplation of the creative arts broadly construed: explorations into the nature of beauty, the meaning and use of art, and the capacity of the various arts to communicate philosophical ideas. By reflecting on such topics, we can hone our abilities to grapple in canonical and contemporary debates about art’s nature, function, and goals, and thereby better understand the arts as expressions of philosophy or wisdom, which can make one a better thinker, a better artist, enliven one’s art experience, and generally vitalize all of life’s experiences.
We will examine countless facets of the many collisions between philosophy and the arts. Study an incredibly diverse palate of canonical philosophers, contemporary scholars, eminent cultural critics, and artists ranging from the famous to infamous to obscure. Engage projects that exercise rigorous reading and hermeneutical interpretation, critical and creative writing, rigorous textual discussions and creative dialogical exploration of ideas, informal and formal presentations, and include experiential options from attending events to doing art. And, within all this diversity, our course will coalesce around three interwoven questions:
- How do we Judge Art?
- What is the Nature of Art?
- What is the Power of {and Effects from} Art?
What does “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” really mean? * Is beauty universal? * Is art necessarily beautiful? * What is the sublime? * Is its appreciation emotional or rational? * Is all aesthetic judgment subjective? * Who can judge art? * By what criteria do we judge art as art? * Is all art good art? * Is art evaluated by its form or content, the artwork or its reception? * Are all arts equal? * Is craft essentially different from art? * What is the purpose of art? i Can something useful be art? * Should art be privately owned? * Is art’s essence imitation or originality? * Is art’s origin & source the artwork or artist? i Can artists be trained or only born? * Can an artist be a critic and a critic an artist? * Is skill as important as imagination? * What is artistic genius? * What is the power of art? * How does the psychology of art relate to its social impact? * Should we censor art? * Should we censor political or commercial uses of art? * Does art speak? * How ought we look at, read, listen to, learn from art? * Does art have to have a message? * Can art ever not have meaning?
Required Text & Book Policy:
We will use one relatively inexpensive anthology and short selections available by .pdf on Blackboard. You must always have a ~physical copy~ of the day’s relevant text with you in class & I expect you to thoroughly & thoughtfully mark up your texts (if this causes concern, please see me within the first two weeks to determine a best solution).
Mark Up: Reading philosophically is a skill requiring practice & an art that may vary between individuals, in accord with the material read & one’s ends for reading, & develop with time, thus I require its activity, but will not dictate its precise manifestation. Universally useful tips: Consider aims of notation (understanding, questions, interest, near- & far-future reference, etc.); Consider forms of notation (ink, pencil, color, underlines, highlighting, symbols, notes, tags, etc., & utility for diverse aims); Solidify & establish universal tactics/consistent features for greatest value.
- Art and its Significance: An Anthology of Aesthetic Theory, third edition, ed. Stephen David Ross (New York: State University of New York Press, 1994). ISBN: 978-0791418529. List Price: $31.95.
We will use one relatively inexpensive anthology and short selections available by .pdf on Blackboard. You must always have a ~physical copy~ of the day’s relevant text with you in class & I expect you to thoroughly & thoughtfully mark up your texts (if this causes concern, please see me within the first two weeks to determine a best solution).
Mark Up: Reading philosophically is a skill requiring practice & an art that may vary between individuals, in accord with the material read & one’s ends for reading, & develop with time, thus I require its activity, but will not dictate its precise manifestation. Universally useful tips: Consider aims of notation (understanding, questions, interest, near- & far-future reference, etc.); Consider forms of notation (ink, pencil, color, underlines, highlighting, symbols, notes, tags, etc., & utility for diverse aims); Solidify & establish universal tactics/consistent features for greatest value.
Course Objective and Goals:
The course aim is to provide a thorough introduction to and rigorous working through a breadth of questions arising from philosophy’s engagement with art and the arts. Its studies will be relevant to numerous academic disciplines, intellectual pursuits, and everyday activities and questions, with specific goals including:
Course Policies and Requirements:
Assignments:
Grade Distribution & Scale:
Evaluation Criteria:
The course aim is to provide a thorough introduction to and rigorous working through a breadth of questions arising from philosophy’s engagement with art and the arts. Its studies will be relevant to numerous academic disciplines, intellectual pursuits, and everyday activities and questions, with specific goals including:
- Building a working body of knowledge comprised of a developed familiarity in & with a range of central topics, dominate theories, technical terminology, key philosophers & texts, & further relevant figures & works in & relating to aesthetics.
- Exercising fundamental skills involved in philosophical reading, thinking, & writing that employs thoughtful study & research submitted to critical & creative analysis, thereby feeding intellectual curiosity & imaginative talents while developing the creation & defense of one’s own ideas.
- Contributing genuinely to class experience as cultivation of the desire for and activity towards broadening intellectual perspectives and fostering greater theoretical & social literacy in philosophy, the arts, & humanities, with direct connection to diverse academic & personal interests & pursuits.
Course Policies and Requirements:
Assignments:
- January Projects: Six questions (listed in syllabus) are to be provisionally answered by each alongside their respective readings and brought to class discussions; final versions of all to be compiled (ensure clear labeling of questions and lists or parts in answers) and submitted in class Jan. 29th.
- Mid-term Project: Collaborative projects presented before the class Feb. 24-26th applying theories from February’s readings; more information provided in class.
- March Projects: Ten questions (listed in syllabus) are to be provisionally answered by each alongside their respective readings and brought to class discussions; final versions of all to be compiled (ensure clear labeling of questions and lists or parts in answers) and submitted in class April 1st.
- Final Project: Cumulative project, due April 27th at our final exam; more information provided in class.
Grade Distribution & Scale:
- January Projects: 20% of final grade
- March Projects: 20% š
- Attendance & Participation: 10%
- Midterm Project: 25% š
- Final Exam Project: 25%
- Scale: A (100-94); A- (93-90); B+ (89-87); B (86-83); B- (82-80); C+ (79-77); C (76-73); C- (72-70); D+ (69-67); D (66-63); D- (62-60); F (59-0).
- Any grade disputes will be settled by personal meeting where we will review together the totality of your class work.
Evaluation Criteria:
- Attendance: is expected and requires presence of both body and mind: sleeping in class or distraction by digital devices considered absence; presence entails class preparation (completion of/reflection on readings) and active attention to/engagement in the class experience. Each is responsible for material covered and due on missed days. Unexcused class absences will reduce one’s ‘Attend. & Part.’ grade by five points for each until the University policy threshold wherein any student missing 20% of class (6+ classes), including otherwise excusable absences (e.g., due illness or late registration) and excluding “Provost Excuses,” will receive the “FN” grade. Each is fully responsible for verifying and correcting, if necessary, one’s registration status.
- Participation: broadly construed to include: vocal contribution, active attention to lecture & discussion, concentrated listening to & engaging peers, discussion by email or in office hours, incorporation of classroom material into submitted work, etc.. All expected to engage in deeply reflective and highly respectful dialogue.
- January & March Projects: evaluated for completeness (i.e., all parts of all questions clearly identified and answered) and correct, high-quality content (i.e., clear, accurate information showing rigorous summary, creative, thoughtful analysis and interpretation, etc., as required per question).
- Midterm & Final Exam Projects: evaluation dependent on tbd formats; thorough information will be provided.
- Late Assignments: will only be accepted within one week of the due date and receive a ten-point penalty, unless arrangements for a brief extension have been made in advance.
Extra Credit Assignments:
1) Read any of the following selections and write a 3-page analysis that clearly summarizes the material, delineates its main argument(s), and closely interprets and evaluates its meaning (for itself and for you).
- Any essay in our course anthology that is not on the syllabus as required. Essays over 10 pages will count as 2 assignments.
- Jean-François Lyotard’s “Preliminary Notes on the Pragmatic of Works: Daniel Buren,” October 10 (1979): 59-67, on BB.
- Renee Conroy’s “Dancework Reconstruction: Kinesthetic Preservation or Danceworld Kitsch?”, www.aesthetics-online.org/articles/index.php?articles_id=35.
- Babette Babich, “The Aesthetics of the Between: On Space and Beauty,” in Jeff Koons: The Sculptor, eds. Brinkmann, Ulrich, and Pissarro, 58-69, on BB.
- Franz Fanon, “Reciprocal Bases of Natl. Culture & Fight for Freedom,” Wretched of the Earth, www.marxists.org/subject/africa/fanon/national-culture.htm.
- Theodor Adorno & Max Horkheimer, Ch.1, The Culture Industry, www.marxists.org/reference/archive/adorno/1944/culture-industry.htm.
- C.G. Kodat, “Conversing with Ourselves: Canon, Freedom, Jazz,” American Quarterly 55:1 (2003): pp.1-28., on BB.
- K. Cartwright, “Voodoo Hermeneutics/The Crossroads Sublime: Soul Musics, Mindful Body, and Creole Consciousness,” The Mississippi Quarterly 51:1 (2003-04): pp. 157-70, on BB.
- Michel Henry, “Monumental Art” and “Music and Painting” in Seeing the Invisible: On Kandinsky, pp.102-118, on BB.
2) Select and watch a film listed below; write a 3-page analysis including a plot summary highlighting philosophically relevant details and your thorough evaluation of it as both an aesthetic and theoretical presentation. For sensitivity to adult content, I encourage you to consult summations or reviews before viewing any of these films; feel free to ask me, as well, for advice and/or recommendations.
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~ Experimental ~
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~ Art-House ~ Delightful ~ Intellectually Provocative ~
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Additionally, films screened at the Belcourt (www.belcourt.org/), International Lens (www.vanderbilt.edu/internationallens/), Nashville Film Festival (nashvillefilmfestival.org/), & International Black Film Festival (ibffnashville.com/) are eligible for these extra credit opportunities; n.b., while discounted with BUID, these do charge admission; check with me re: questions.
If more extra credit assignments are desired, please see me (i.e., there is no maximum cap on the number of extra credit assignments that you may complete).
If more extra credit assignments are desired, please see me (i.e., there is no maximum cap on the number of extra credit assignments that you may complete).
IV. University Policies:
Honor Code:
The Belmont community values personal integrity & academic honesty as the foundation of university life & the cornerstone of a premiere educational experience. Our community believes that trust amongst its members is essential for both scholarship & effective interactions & operations of the University. As members of the Belmont community, all are responsible for ensuring their experiences will be free of behaviors that compromise this value. To uphold academic integrity, the university has adopted the Student Honor Pledge that guides academic behavior:
- I will not give or receive aid during examinations; I will not give or receive false or impermissible aid in course work, in the preparation of reports, or in any other type of work that is to be used by the instructor as the basis of my grade; I will not engage in any form of academic fraud. Furthermore, I will uphold my responsibility to see to it that others abide by the spirit and letter of this Honor Pledge (University Handbook).
Accommodation of Disabilities:
In compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, Belmont University will provide reasonable accommodation of all medically documented disabilities. If you have a disability and would like reasonable accommodations made during this course, please notify the Office of the Dean of Students located in Beaman Student Life Center (615-460-6407) as soon as possible.
Course Evaluations:
The university urges and expects all students to participate in all course evaluations, providing honest feedback to the instructor and institution about specific aspects and elements of the course. In addition, I highly encourage such evaluation to be engaged all semester; I invite all to take an active role in forging the unique experience of this class, and will also regularly solicit your input.
Electronics, Supplements & Notes, & Etcetera:
- Please refrain from the use of (distraction by) digital devices.
- Course information, including assignment information and additionally assigned readings, will be provided through our course Blackboard site.
- Our external class sites also provide course information plus supplemental aids on readings and related philosophical and artistic topics, and is available at: http://threshold-to-lintel.weebly.com/. Even more resources can be found under the “Aesthetics” tab at: www.aquestionofexistence.com.
- I encourage all to make use of University resources, e.g., the Library’s Databases of English & Philosophy Print & E-Resources: https://belmont.libguides.com/philosophy & https://belmont.libguides.com/english & services of the Belmont Writing Center: http://www.belmont.edu/learning-centers/writing/.
- Additionally, I highly encourage you to email, come to office hours, &/or arrange a meeting for any questions, concerns, etc. about the class and its material.
- I will ask us all to uphold the ideals of academic freedom to make our classroom a space of comfortable and free discourse, which means feeling free and encouraged to openly entertain and exchange even uncomfortable ideas and actively maintaining an environment wherein others enjoy the same by each fully respecting the rights of all.
- This syllabus is subject to change; any changes will be announced in class & amended online.
“Art is so wonderfully irrational,
exuberantly pointless,
but necessary all the same.
Pointless and yet necessary …”
—Günter Grass, Interview in New Statesman & Society, London, 22 June 1990.