Course detail

Introduction to Philosophy of Art - wintrer

FaVU-1UFIL-ZAcad. year: 2017/2018

The course aims at introducing students to basic terminology and issues of philosophical reflection of art. The curriculum combines historical and probem approach: different variants of anwers to the question "what is art", which sprang up during the history of european thinking, are examined in this course both from historical and contemporary perspectives. The course focuses on several topics, for instance art as mimesis, art and aesthetics, art as expression, art as form, art as sign and structure; modernism - avangarde - neoavantgarde - postmodernism; various definitions of art in the second half of the 20th century will be discussed.

Language of instruction

Czech

Number of ECTS credits

3

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Learning outcomes of the course unit

The graduate of the class should be capable to interprete the most influential philosophical conceptions of art, to understand basic concepts of the philosophy of art and to be able to place them into the overal framework of the history of art and its theoretical reflection.

Prerequisites

Basic orientation in the history of (especially modern) art, general view of the main periods and names of european philosophy.

Co-requisites

Not applicable.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The classwork is based on the combination of lectures, aimed at the general introducing of a topic, with collective reading of short philosophical texts.

Assesment methods and criteria linked to learning outcomes

Essay

Course curriculum

1. Introduction to philosophy. What is philosophy? Aesthetics and philosophy of art.
2. The beginnings of philosophy. The ancient notion of art: techné. Artes liberales and artes mechanicae.
3. Art as mimesis. Plato and Aristotle.
4. The changes of the notion of art through history. The middle ages, the rennaissance, the enlightment. The origin and birth of the "modern system of art."
5. The birth of aesthetics as a philosophical disciplnie. The basic aesthetic categories - disinterestedness, taste, the sublime. 18th century aesthetics.
6. Kant and aesthetics. The characteristics of Kant's philosophy. The Critique of Judgement. Kant's basic terminology: taste, beauty, the sublime, genius. The beginnings of formalism in art.
7. Classical German aesthetics. Winckelmann. Lessing. Goethe and Schiller. The autonomy of the work of art and the educational role of art.
8. Romantic aesthetics. Hölderlin, Schelling, Friedrich Schlegel, Novalis. Romantic irony. Art as expression.
9. Hegel's aesthetics. The characteristics of Hegel's philosophy. Beuty as the sensual manifestation of ideas and art as the embodiment of the absolute spirit.
10. Selected issues of the mid 19th century philosophy of art. Baudelaire and modernity. L’art pour l’art. Kierkegaard and the aesthetic existence. Wilde and aestheticism.
11. Marxism and realism in art theory. Introduction to marxist methodology. Lukács.The theory of reflection.
12. Nietzche. The notion of the Apollonian and Dionysian principles.

Work placements

Not applicable.

Aims

The goal of the class is to introduce students with the basic concepts, methods and topics of the philosopical reflection of art.

Specification of controlled education, way of implementation and compensation for absences

Lectures are optional.

Recommended optional programme components

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

Not applicable.

Recommended reading

Not applicable.

Classification of course in study plans

  • Programme Bachelor's

    branch AGD2 , 2. year of study, winter semester, compulsory
    branch APD , 2. year of study, winter semester, compulsory
    branch AGD1 , 2. year of study, winter semester, compulsory
    branch AS2 , 2. year of study, winter semester, compulsory
    branch AS1 , 2. year of study, winter semester, compulsory
    branch AM1 , 2. year of study, winter semester, compulsory
    branch AKG , 2. year of study, winter semester, compulsory
    branch AM3 , 2. year of study, winter semester, compulsory
    branch AM2 , 2. year of study, winter semester, compulsory
    branch AIN , 2. year of study, winter semester, compulsory
    branch AVI , 2. year of study, winter semester, compulsory
    branch AFO , 2. year of study, winter semester, compulsory
    branch AEN , 2. year of study, winter semester, compulsory
    branch AMU , 2. year of study, winter semester, compulsory
    branch ATD , 2. year of study, winter semester, compulsory
    branch APE , 2. year of study, winter semester, compulsory

Type of course unit

 

Lecture

52 hours, optionally

Teacher / Lecturer