Philosophy of Art ((3 Units))

Catalog description

This course introduces students to some of the most important theories, attitudes, and controversies concerning the nature of art. It takes a pan-cultural and diachronic approach to the forms, uses, and traditions of art in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. Students learn to identify the assumptions and arguments underlying diverse approaches to art and to its evaluation. They discover how art discourse employs concepts such as form, content, representation, abstraction, expression, intuition, beauty, convention, purpose, instrumentalism, institutionalism, meaning, and truth. They learn to formulate their own thoughts and responses to the material studied. (Formerly 3600:350)