Lecture Schedule

Week 1: Introduction to aesthetic theorizing

Compulsory Readings:

Tuesday: Noël Carroll, Philosophy of Art . Introduction, pp. 1-17.

Thursday: Noël Carroll, Philosophy of Art . Chapter 1, Art and Representation, pp. 19-33.

Additional Readings:

Alan Goldman “Representation in Art” in Levinson, Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics, pp. 192-210.

Note: Levinson, Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics can be accessed through the Oxford Books Online. You reach this through Chinook. Search for the book, then click on the link “Connect to online resource via Oxford Handbooks Online” . You have to be doing this on campus or else VPN in on your home computer.

"Plato’s aesthetics" The Stanford Online Encyclopedia of Philosophy.  This online encyclopedia is a wonderful resource in general. Each article is written by an expert in the field but it is also heavily peer reviewed.

Weeks 2-3: Similiarity, representation and copies

Compulsory Readings:

Noël Carroll, Philosophy of Art . Chapter 1, "Art and Representation", pp. 33-57.

Denis Dutton, “Artistic Crimes” The British Journal of Aesthetics 19 (1979): 302-341.

Additional Readings:

Steven Davies, “The Ontology of Art”, in Levinson, The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics, pp. 155-180. Access this through Norlin's search engine (search for The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics) and then  click on the link “Connect to online resource via Oxford Handbooks Online” . You have to be doing this on campus or else VPN in on your home computer.

Jorge Luis Borges, “Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote” (uploaded on D2L)

Weeks 4-6: Art, Expression and Emotion

Compulsory Readings:

Noël Carroll, Philosophy of Art. Chapter 2, "Art and Expression", pp. 59-106.

Leo Tolstoy, excerpt from What is Art  trans. Maude, (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1960), 49-51, 71-73.

R.G. Collingwood, excerpt from The Principles of Art (Oxford: Clarendon, 1938), 109-124.

Aaron Ridley, “Tragedy” in Levinson, The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics, pp. 408-420.  Access this through Norlin's search engine (search for The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics) and then  click on the link “Connect to online resource via Oxford Handbooks Online” . You have to be doing this on campus or else VPN in on your home computer.

Alex Neil, “Art and Emotion”, in Levinson, The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics, pp. 421-435 . The Access this through Norlin's search engine (search for The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics) and then  click on the link “Connect to online resource via Oxford Handbooks Online” . You have to be doing this on campus or else VPN in on your home computer.

Additional Readings:

Aaron Ridley, “Expression in Art”, in Levinson, The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics, pp. 211-227. Access this through Norlin's search engine (search for The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics) and then  click on the link “Connect to online resource via Oxford Handbooks Online” . You have to be doing this on campus or else VPN in on your home computer.

Frank Jackson, “What Mary Didn't Know” The Journal of Philosophy Vol. 83, No. 5 (May, 1986), pp. 291-295. This is up on the D2L site.

Thomas Nagel, “What is it like to be a bat?” Philosophical Review 83 (October,1974): 435-50. This is up on the D2L site.

Weeks 7-8: Art and Form

Compulsory Readings:

Noël Carroll, Philosophy of Art. Chapter 3, "Art and Form", pp. 108-154.

Francis Hutcheson An Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue in Two Treatises Edited and with an Introduction by Wolfgang Leidhold (Indianapolis, Liberty Fund, 2004). Up on the D2L website.

Additional Readings:

Robert Stecker, “Definition of Art”, in Levinson, The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics, pp. 136-154, but particularly section 3, 139-142.

Clive Bell, Art (New York, 1913) Available online at the Project Gutenburg: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16917/16917-h/16917-h.htm, especially Part 1 (What is Art?) Section 1 (The Aesthetic Hypothesis).

Thomas M. McLaughlin, “Clive Bell's Aesthetic: Tradition and Significant Form”, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism,Vol. 35, No. 4 (Summer, 1977), pp. 433-443 (up on the D2L website).

Christopher Kelly, “Value Monism, Richness, And Environmental Ethics" Les ateliers de l’éthique / The Ethics Forum, vol. 9, n° 2, 2014, p. 110-129. Up on the D2L website. (This is a paper by a former grad student of mine, Chris Kelly, who is now a film director and actor. It is a very good introduction to the idea that value (not just aesthetic value, but value generally) is what he calls richness. For Kelly’s bio go to http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2025993/.

Weeks 9-10: Aesthetic Experience

Compulsory Readings:

Noël Carroll, Philosophy of Art. Chapter 4, "Art and Aesthetic Experience", pp. 156-204.

Optional Readings:

Alan Goldman, "The Broad View of Aesthetic Experience". Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 71 (4):323-333. (Up on D2L.)

Weeks 11-13: History, Institutions, Concepts and Prototypes

Compulsory Readings:

Noël Carroll, Philosophy of Art. Chapter 4, "Art Definition and Identificaiton", pp. 206-266.

Optional Readings:

Dean, Jeffrey T. (2003). "The nature of concepts and the definition of art." Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 61 (1):29–35.

Weitz, Morris (1956). "The role of theory in aesthetics." Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 15 (1):27-35.

Weeks 14-15: Fictional characters and truth in fiction

Compulsory Readings:

Alex Neil, “Fiction and the Emotions” American Philosophical Quarterly 30 (1):1 - 13.

Berys Gaut, “The Paradox of Horror”, in Levinson, The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics, pp. 317-329.  Access this through Norlin's search engine (search for The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics) and then  click on the link “Connect to online resource via Oxford Handbooks Online” . You have to be doing this on campus or else VPN in on your home computer.

Colin Radford , “How Can We Be Moved by the Fate of Anna Karenina?”  Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volumes,Vol. 49 (1975), pp. 67-80. This is up on the D2L site.

Additional Readings:

David Lewis, “Truth in Fiction” American Philosophical Quartlery, 15 (1978), 37-46. This is up on the D2L site.