Beyond Art Theories - ASV00016

• Title: Beyond Art Theories
• Guaranteed by: Department of Aestetics (21-KEST)
• Faculty: Faculty of Arts
• Actual: from 2020
• Semester: summer
• Points: 0
• E-Credits: 6
• Examination process: summer s.:combined
• Hours per week, examination: summer s.:2/0, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: unknown / unknown (unknown)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: not taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment
• Guarantor: Mgr. Šárka Lojdová, Ph.D.

Annotation

This course aims to discuss the problem of defining art which has accompanied the analytical philosophy of art from its beginning. However, the question of what is art is in our philosophical thinking rooted even more deeply and goes hand in hand with issues concerning the appreciation or evaluation of art and therefore, it is considered as one of the key topics of philosophy of art. The purpose of these lectures is to put different attitudes towards defining art into a historical perspective as well as to interpret them critically. Each of the approaches discussed can explain a particular aspect of art; however, at the same time, it struggles to clarify the others.
For this reason, one crucial question arises: Does it make sense to define art? Or to put the matter differently is the question of what art is the right question for philosophy? Accordingly, I will approach the „classical“ art theories and definitions through the lenses of this question, and emphasise not only the structure of particular theories but also what lays beyond these theories. Together with contemporary scholars, I shall claim that we can use these theories to learn something about art, even if the theories themselves are significantly wrong. They reveal us what is beyond the particular object of art and what is beyond the definition is what usually matters.

Last update: Lojdová Šárka, Mgr., Ph.D. (04.02.2020)

Course completion requirements

The course aims to encourage students to think critically and to participate in the dialogue about the nature of art. Students are, therefore supposed to read texts before each lecture. The assessment will be based on active participation ( 40%) and an essay about the discussed topic (60%).

Last update: Lojdová Šárka, Mgr., Ph.D. (04.02.2020)

Literature

Andina, Tatiana. The Philosophy of Art: The Question of Definition. London, NY: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013.

Danto, Arthur. "The Artworld“ The Journal of Philosophy 61, No. 19 (October 1964): 571-584

Danto, Arthur. What Art Is. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2013.

Dickie, George. The Art Circle. Evanston: Chicago Spectrum Press, 1997.

Dickie, George. "What Is Art. An Institutional Analysis." In Modern Book of Aesthetics edited by Malvin Rader, 459- 472. NY: Holt, 1979.

Kennick, William. " Does Traditional Aesthetics Rest on a Mistake?“ Mind 67, No. 267 (July 1958): 317-334.

Kristeller, Paul Oskar. "The Modern System of the Arts: A Study in the History of Aesthetics Part I." Journal of the History of Ideas 12, No. 4 (October 1951): 496-527.

Kristeller, Paul Oskar. "The Modern System of the Arts: A Study in the History of Aesthetics Part I." Journal of the History of Ideas 13, No. 1 (January 1951): 17-46.

Lamarque, Peter. Work and Object: Explorations in the Metaphysics of Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Lopes, Dominic Mc Iver. Beyond Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Last update: Lojdová Šárka, Mgr., Ph.D. (04.02.2020)