Aesthetics I
Instance: 2004/2005 - 1S
Cycles of Study/Courses
Objectives
To study some of the most important texts produced in the field of Aesthetics.
To provide questions, concepts and conceptual relations for an understanding of artistic and aesthetic objects.
To motivate and develop an appreciation for artistic objects, namely contemporary productions.
To encourage students' visual and conceptual imagination.
Program
1. What do we mean when we talk of Aesthetics? Delimitation*
- from the etymological meaning to Aesthetics as a philosophical discipline
- paradoxical dimension of Aesthetics
- rationalization of the aesthetic and artistic experiences – a relative failure
- restricting Aesthetics to a subjective reflection on art
- aesthetic object and work of art
- the aesthetic experience. Its conditions and implications. Aesthetic and artistic experiences: an essential affinity
- Aesthetic experience and everyday life. The “usage” of the aesthetic object
- Manifestation of the “self” of/in the aesthetic experience. From the affective versions of the world to an affected “self”. Exposure and the Unexposed
- Aesthetic/artistic experience and “infantia”. A re-initiation to the world
(* the issues raised in 1. will be recovered and reformulated in the interpretation of the authors/texts of the philosophical and aesthetic tradition which are presented next; see also the programme for Aesthetics II)
2. Plato: recognition of the affective character of art
- art as mimesis and the transitional character of the aesthetic experience
- the risks of the aesthetics experience: the demand for legislation
- affection and childhood
- art subject to the Truth
3. Kant: modern subjectification of Aesthetics
- autonomous aesthetics and its modern restrictions. The non-transitional character of the aesthetic experience
- a second Copernican revolution? Beauty: a subjective representation. The aesthetic-based judgement. The antinomy of taste
- the privilege of natural beauty. Aesthetic design
- aesthetic judgement and common sense: the confrontation between the aesthetic experience ad universality
- from beauty to the sublime. Readings on the sublime in contemporary Aesthetics and in art (introduction).
Main Bibliography
Bozal, V., El gusto, Visor, Madrid, 1999
Cauquelin, A., Petit traité d’art contemporain, Seuil, Paris, 1996
Ferry, L., Homo aestheticus – L’invention du gôut à l’âge démocratique, Grasset, 1990
Giovine, S., Historia de la estética, Tecnos, Madrid, 1990
Huisman, D., A Estética, ed. 70, 1997
Jiménez, J., Teoría del arte, Tecnos, Madrid, 2002
Jímenez, M., Qu’est-ce que l’esthétique, Gallimard, 1997
Lyotard, J.-F., L’inhumain. Causeries sur le temps, Galilée, 1988
Millet, Catherine, A arte contemporânea, Instituto Piaget, 2000
Schaeffer , J.-M., Adieu à l’esthétique, Puf, 2000
Schaeffer, J.-M., L’art de l’âge moderne. L’esthétique et la philosophie de l’art du XVIIIem siècle à nos jours, Gallimard, 1992
Complementary Bibliography
To be indicated over the semester; includes other materials apart from written texts.
Teaching methods and learning activities
Explanation of the issues through previously indicated texts and audio-visual materials; possible supervision of written assignments, as an alternative to the final exam.
Software
No specific software required.
Evaluation Type
Evaluation with final exam
Eligibility for exams
Positive mark in the final exam.
Calculation formula of final grade
Mark obtained in the final exam.
Examinations or Special Assignments
Not applicable.
Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)
Not applicable.
Classification improvement
According to the Assessment Regulations in force.
Observations
Language of instruction: Portuguese