The Fate of Art: Problems of Beauty and Art

Catalog description

Introduces students to some of the dominant philosophical approaches to art in the history of Western philosophy, and, when useful, we shall correlate these approaches with some selected artworks. After starting by considering Platos and Aristotles seminal philosophical engagements with art, we turn our attention to the development of aesthetics as a distinct philosophical discipline in the eighteenth century, before considering some 20th century perspectives. The course is guided by questions such as: What is beauty? Does art have a moral purpose? Does successful art reveal ineffable truths? Why is art worthy of philosophical interest? And, are art and philosophy at all compatible?