PHIL 156: What Is Art?

PHIL 156-002: What is Art?
(Spring 2018)

10:30 AM to 11:45 AM TR

Planetary Hall 224

Section Information for Spring 2018

This course is a look at philosophical questions surrounding the status, production and meaning of art. We will start by looking at some artwork that will help set up some parameters for reading an image. Then we will explore what characterizes the work of art and how this relates to the social, cultural and theoretical expectations about art via a reading of Danto (institutional theory), Nochlin and Berger (gender and power) and Fisher (museum theory). A major philosophical theme of this course will involve the relation between the work of art and truth. This will involve a detailed look at particular philosophers for whom the question of truth and art are tightly bound: Plato, Plotinus, Schopenhauer, and Benjamin. Throughout the course we will be looking at both specific examples of art and particular case studies of theory.

Tags:

Course Information from the University Catalog

Credits: 3

Introduction to philosophical reflection on the arts by looking at the critical issues in the history of aesthetics. Applies considerations to specific works and explores these works in terms of their historical contexts and influences. Concentrates on one form of art or one period and always emphasizes questions of critical evaluation and art historical analysis. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Arts
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.

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