The Significance of Art and Human Experience. Philosophical Discussions - AFSV00458
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WS 2026
Charles University Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies The Significance of Art and Human Experience. Philosophical Discussions (Erasmus students should enroll in the course with the identification number: AFSV00458; FF students in the Kurz společného základu (or Introduction to Philosophy) with the number: ASZFS0077) Doc. Daniele De Santis, Ph. D. Office hours: Wednesday 14:30-15:30 Email: daniele.desantis@ff.cuni.cz (Tuesday 14:10-15:40) Room: P131 1. General Description and Aims of the Module What is a work of art? What kind of experience do we have when we experience art? These are the questions the present class will try to directly or indirectly address. This course introduces students to Moritz Geiger’s approach to aesthetics and to the philosophical question of what makes art significant for human life and existence. Moritz Geiger was an early 20th century philosopher, a representative of the so-called phenomenological tradition. We will examine how philosophy (in particular, the object-oriented phenomenology proposed by Geiger) can transform the study of art by focusing on the structures of aesthetic experience rather than reducing artworks either to abstract philosophical (metaphysical) principles or to subjective and mental psychological (or psychophysical) reactions. The course will explore the relation between aesthetic experience and aesthetic value, asking whether artistic values can be understood as more than matters of individual preference. Particular attention will be given to pleasure and enjoyment, inner and outer concentration, surface and depth effects, aesthetic judgment, the structure and existence of aesthetic values, and the nature of aesthetic significance. The course concludes with Geiger’s account of the spiritual significance of art, considering what and how art contributes to human existence. Although written within the philosophical debates of the early twentieth century, Geiger’s questions remain highly relevant today. His analysis and overall approach invite us to re-consider familiar assumptions about subjective taste, objectivity, interpretation, and the value of art, while providing conceptual tools for thinking critically about contemporary artistic practices and our increasingly mediated encounters with images, culture, and aesthetic experience. Poslední úprava: De Santis Daniele, doc., Dott. Ric. (23.09.2026)
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Students will be evaluated based upon the following two distinct parameters:
(1) Participation (which includes yet is not limited to: attendance, in-class active participation). If you are absent, please ask your classmates for any assignments or key discussion materials missed. You can find the full schedule and plan for the semester on Moodle (link in SIS). (2) An In-Class Written Exam (dates and more detailed information will be provided in due time) Poslední úprava: De Santis Daniele, doc., Dott. Ric. (25.08.2026)
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Moritz Geiger, The Significance of Art. A Phenomenological Approach to Aesthetics. University Press of America 1986
Moritz Geiger, An Introduction to Existential Philosophy. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 1943, 3 (3) (1943), pp. 255-278
Poslední úprava: De Santis Daniele, doc., Dott. Ric. (25.08.2026)
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