Course syllabus
Contemporary Analytic Philosophy of the Arts
Lecturer Stephen Davies
Room 457, Art 1, 14a Symonds Street,
sj.davies@auckland.ac.nz, 3737599 xt 87615,
Class: Thursday 1-3, Arts 1 206-214
Texts There is no text.
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Notices
We advise you to consult the University’s “Academic Integrity Guidelines”, “Academic Policies, guidelines and procedures.
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Academic Conduct: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/the-university/how-university-works/policy-and-administration/teaching-and-learning/students.html
Assessment
100% coursework.
Class presentation:
All students are expected to give one class presentation of 10-20 minutes. The presentation should summarise the readings set for the class, outline the issues on which there is disagreement, and explain the nature of the disagreement. Students who do not give a presentation will be penalised 5% on their final result.
There are two options for completing the coursework requirement:
Either
One 3000 word essay, worth 60%.
One class presentation assessed at 15%.
Written 400 word summaries/comments on readings for five other classes, worth 25%.
Or
Either two 3,000 word essays, each 50%. Or one 6,000 word essay These can be based on sections of the textbook.
Due dates for essays will be advised.
LIBRARY SOURCES
GL = General Library; FA = Fine Arts Library
GENERAL INTRODUCTIONS:
Stephen Davies, The Philosophy of Art, (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2016. Second edition.) ISBN: 978-1-119-09165-3. available in GL as an e-book
Noël Carroll, Philosophy of Art: A Contemporary Introduction. (London: Routledge, 1999). ISBN 0-415-15964-4; GL 111.85 C319 & SLC.
Robert Stecker, Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art: An Introduction, (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010 second edition). ISBN 0-7425-1461-7; SL 111.85 S81 2010.
JOURNALS:
British Journal of Aesthetics - GL 111.85 B86; FA SERIALS
Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism - FA SERIALS
Philosophy and Literature - GL 809 P56
REFERENCE BOOKS :
Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics. J. Levinson (ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. GL 111.85 L66o
Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, Michael Kelly (ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. 4 Vols. GL Reference 111.8503 K29. The second edition of 2014 can be viewed online via the library website.
Routledge Companion to Aesthetics. Berys Gaut & Dominic McIver Lopez (eds.), London: Routledge, 2001. GL 111.85 G27 (Second edition, 2004.)
Blackwell Companion to Aesthetics (second edition), Stephen Davies, Kathleen Marie Higgins, Robert Hopkins, Robert Stecker, & David Cooper (ed). Maldern: Blackwell-Wiley, 2009. GL 111.85 C73 2009
Blackwell Companion to Aesthetics, David Cooper (ed). Oxford: Blackwell, 1992. GL Reference 111.85 C73
Blackwell Guide to Aesthetics. P. Kivy (ed.), Oxford: Blackwell, 2003. GL 111.85 K62b
COLLECTIONS OF READINGS:
Aesthetics, James O. Young (ed.), London: Routledge, 2005. 4 Vols. GL 111.85 Y68
Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art: The Analytic Tradition, P. Lamarque & S. H. Olsen (eds.), Oxford: Blackwell, 2003. FA 701.17 A254p
GENERAL ENCYCLOPEDIAS:
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward Craig (Editor-in-Chief). London: Routledge, 1998. 10 Vols. GL Reference 100 C88
The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, P. Edwards (ed.), (London: Macmillan & Free Press, 1967. 8 Vols. GL 103 E26
The Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Supplement D. Bourchet (ed.), (New York: Macmillan Reference, 1996. GL 103 E26 supp
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, electronic at http://plato.stanford.edu/
TOPICS and READINGS
Most readings are accessed via Tallis.
WEEK 2 Musical expressiveness
Davies, Stephen. 'Artistic Expression and the Hard Case of Pure Music,' in Contemporary Debates in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art, M. Kieran (ed.), (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006), 179-191.
Levinson, Jerrold. 'Musical Expressiveness as Hearability-as-expression,' in Contemporary Debates in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art, M. Kieran (ed.), (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006), 192-204.
WEEK 3 Defining art
Dickie, George. The Art Circle, New York: Haven 1984, 79-86.
Beardsley, Monroe C. 'An Aesthetic Definition of Art' in What Is Art? Edited by H. Curtler. New York: Haven, 1983, 15-29.
Gaut, Berys. '"Art" as a Cluster Concept.' In Theories of Art Today, edited by N. Carroll, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 25-44,
WEEK 4 Appreciation of nature
Carlson, Allen. 'Appreciation and the Natural Environment', Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 37 (1979): 267-275.
Carroll, Noël. 'On Being Moved by Nature: Between Religion and Natural History,' in Landscape, Natural Beauty and the Arts, edited by S. Kemal and I. Gaskell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, 244-266.
Budd, Malcolm, 'The Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature,' British Journal of Aesthetics, 36 (1996): 207-222.
WEEK 5 Literary Interpretation
Levinson, Jerrold. 'Defending Hypothetical Intentionalism,' British Journal of Aesthetics, 50 (2010): 139-150.
Carroll, Noël, 'Criticism and Intrerpretation,' Sztuka i Filozofia, 42 (2013):
Stecker, Robert & Davies, Stephen. 'The Hypothetical Intentionalist's Dilemma: A Reply to Levinson,' British Journal of Aesthetics, 50 (2010): 307-312.
WEEK 6 Computers and art
Tavinor, Grant. The Art of Videogames, (Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009). Ch. 9
Lopes, Dominic McIver. A Philosophy of Computer Art, (Abingdon: Routledge, 2010). Ch. 7.
WEEK 7 Philosophers on neuroaesthetics
Stokes, Dustin. 'Aesthetics and Cognitive Science,' Philosophy Compass, 4/5 (2009): 715-733.
Davies, David. 'This is your brain on art”: what can philosophy of art learn from neuroscience?' in Aesthetics and the Sciences of the Mind, edited by G. Currie, M. Kieran, A. Meskin, and J. Robson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 57-74.
Currie, Gregory. 'Aesthetics and Cognitive Science,' in The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics, edited by J. Levinson, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003, 706-721.
WEEK 8 Evaluation
Kieran, Matthew. 'Why Ideal Critics are Not Ideal: Aesthetic Character, Motivation and Value,' British Journal of Aesthetics, 48 (2008): 278-294.
Ross, Stephanie. 'When Critics Disagree: Prospects for Realism in Aesthetics,' Philosophical Quarterly, 64 (2014): 590-618.
Shelley, James. 'Hume and the Joint Verdict of True Judges,' Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 71 (2013): 145-153.
WEEK 9 Is there a narrator in fictions?
Wilson, George. 'Le Grand Imagier Steps Out: The Primitive Basis of Film Narration' Philosophical Topics 25 (1997): 295-318.
Kania, Andrew. 'Against the Ubiquity of Fictional Narrators,' Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 63 (2005): 47-54.
Gaut, Berys. A Philosophy of Cinematic Art, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Ch. 5, sect 5, 218-220.
WEEK 10 The nature of humour
Carroll, Noël. 'On Jokes,' Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 16 (1991): 280-301.
Shaw, Joshua. 'Philosophy of Humor," Philosophy Compass, 5 (2010): 112-126.
Morreall, John, "Philosophy of Humor", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2013 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2013/entries/humor/>.
WEEK 11 Art and ethics
Carroll, Noël. 'Art and Ethical Criticism: An Overview of Recent Directions of Research,' Ethics, 110 (2000): 350-387.
Carroll, Noël. 'The Wheel of Virtue: Art, Literature, and Moral Knowledge,' Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 60 (2002): 3-26.
Kieran, Matthew. 'Art, Morality and Ethics: On the (Im)Moral Character of Art Works and Inter-Relations to Artistic Value,' Philosophy Compass, 5 (2006): 129-143.
Jacobson, Daniel. 'In Praise of Immoral Art,' Philosophical Topics, 25 (1997): 155-199.
WEEK 12 Can pornography be art?
Mag Uidhir, Christy, 'Why Pornography Can't be Art,' Philosophy and Literature, 33 (2009): 192-203.
Maes, Hans, 'Drawing the Line: Art versus Pornography,' Philosophy Compass, 6 (2011): 385-397.
Vasilaki, Mimi, ‘Why some Pornography may be Art,’ Philosophy and Literature, 34 (2010): 228-233.
Fokt, Simon, 'Pornographic Art—A Case from Definitions,' British Journal of Aesthetics, 52 (2012): 287-300.
Course summary:
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