History and Limits of Aesthetic Theory
COL 266
Spring 2020
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
PHIL 267 |
| Certificates: Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory |
| Course Cluster: Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory Certificate |
This class will engage significant contributions to Aesthetic Theory in the West from antiquity to the modern period along three dimensions: theoretical, critical, and historical. From a theoretical standpoint, we will address perennial questions in aesthetics, such as what makes something a work of art in the first place, what it means for art to be "beautiful" or otherwise "successful," how differences in media condition and contribute to artistic meaning, what genera are and how they evolve, whether and how art can be ethically or politically significant, why we care about fiction, why and how we "enjoy" tragic plays or horror films, and how artistic tradition can (and should) inform individual works. From a critical standpoint, we will consider how works of art contemporaneous with each theoretical account either reinforce or challenge its specific proposals. And from a historical standpoint, we will seek to understand how aesthetic theories both respond to the specificities of their own epoch and situate themselves relative to the artistic and aesthetic traditions of their predecessors. Readings will include texts by Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Lessing, and Hegel. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS PHIL |
| Course Format: Discussion | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (COL)(CSCT)(PHIL)(PHIL-Philosophy)(PHIL-Social Jus)(STS) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Readings include texts by Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Tolstoy, Collingwood, Gombrich, Wollheim, Beardsley, Danto and others.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Three papers, class participation, and weekly comments on reading assignments. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Previous course in philosophy is highly recommended. |
| Instructor(s): Smyth,Daniel Times: .M.W... 10:50AM-12:10PM; Location: BOGH114; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 5 | JR major: 5 | | |
| Seats Available: -14 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 3 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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