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This course is at upper intermediate level and so would not be suitable for people who are new to studying philosophy. It would be an ideal continuation course for students who have previously studied on our Intermediate level courses and who now want a course that will look at the work of a particular philosopher or theme in some depth. It may also be suitable for people who have had some previous grounding in Philosophy and who now want to study in more depth.
Although you should have some previous experience of studying philosophy it is not expected that you need to have a great deal of familiarity with either the philosophy of art, or debates around the definition of art, as this is what the course will aim to provide.
The course covers the main contenders for a definition of art within (broadly speaking) the analytical tradition. It begins by asking general philosophical questions to clear the ground, before investigating some concepts from the following thinkers:
Plato - Inspiration vs Technique, Representation and the Political and Moral Relevance of Artworks
Aristotle - Mimesis, Catharsis and the Relation of Form and Content in an Artwork
Hume - On the nature of critical and value judgements about artworks - their claims to objectivity and their basis in fact.
Kant - The Aesthetic as a form of Judgement; the Nature of the beautiful, the sublime and artistic genius
Hegel - The Historical Nature of Art and Art's role in developing self-consciousness.
Nietzsche - on the Apollonian and Dionysian tendencies in Art and the role and relationship of art and culture, and art and morality.
Heidegger - hermeneutics and The Purpose of Art within the Being of Dasein.
These will link in to discussions of the following topics within philosophical aesthetics: (each will be a stand-alone topic, but will be inflected by the Philosopher centred discussions)
' The Definition of Art
' The basis of making judgments of works within different art forms
' The ontology of Artworks within different art forms
' The importance, or otherwise, of fakes and forgeries
' The Role of the artwork and the artist in contemporary society.
These are each discussed and analysed through key texts, and although this part is issue based, philosophers who will feature will be Arthur Danto, George Dickie, Nelson Goodman, Kendall Walton, Jerrold Levinson, Noel Carroll, Stephen Davies, David Davies, Robert Stecker.)
The course will also stress the connections and difference between inter-related concepts, such as the definition of 'art'; the ontology of artworks (in general as a category, as an art form, or at an individual level); and a (substantive) theory of art; as well as looking at the contemporary relevance and application ideas from the past (such as Plato's views on the deceptive nature of images and contemporary advertising and influencing)
There will be extensive references made to historical and contemporary artworks throughout the course.
The teaching and learning will be done by a series of weekly 2 hour seminar style guided lectures, each focused on a particular thinker and text, viewed through the lens of the main topics of the course. These will be participatory in nature with, as well as presenting information, open discussion and philosophical argument encouraged. Topics will run from week to week to build a cumulative position that makes reference back to past thinkers, and which anticipates future developments. There will be a PowerPoint presentation shared with students before each session, and extra resources suggested within and after each session.
Set readings (including those above) from philosophical texts will be discussed each week and so these would need to be read between classes. These will never be (book length), but they will often be difficult, original texts from philosophers.
Course readings will be made available via the Moodle page for the course and will include suggestions for further reading.
Other Upper Intermediate or Advanced level Philosophy courses at the Mary Ward Centre or other similar establishments. Other courses in the Humanities and Social Sciences with a strong emphasis on theory and the study of the mind and human behaviour (e.g., Psychology, Economics, Sociology, Anthropology, History).
This course covers an investigation into some of the perennial thinkers and topics within philosophical aesthetics within the Western tradition: It is structured broadly in two parts, the first looking at the thoughts and theories on art provided within the philosophies of 6 key thinkers within this tradition: Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche and Heidegger; the second on some central issues within contemporary philosophy debates within the philosophy of art, such as the definition of art and artworks, the different art forms, meaning in art, fakes and forgeries, and art criticism and appreciation. In doing so it will not only address the contemporary relevance of the thought of historical thinkers, but will also address some key historical and contemporary philosophy, ranging beyond aesthetics, and touching on the philosophy of language, logic, culture, politics, history, ontology and epistemology.
Building upon the predictions concerning the ramifications of human activity on earth's resources, a pertinent question emerges: Can philosophy play any role in navigating this predicament? This course aspires to conjure such an intervention and sheds light on the intertwining of philosophy with the human relation to the Earth, a concern extending beyond the realms of present-day debates. Indeed, it reveals a deep-seated enigma that has been a constant companion of Western philosophy since its very dawn - what is the nature of the bond between thought and the Earth? Through an exhaustive exploration emphasising the Earth's enduring, yet often enigmatic, presence across the trajectory of philosophical debate, this course lays the foundation for a philosophical retort to the looming ecological reality. The course will traverse key philosophical texts, commencing with the pre-Socratic philosophers and the Stoics, and continuing through Plato and Aristotle; progressing to philosophers of the enlightenment such as Descartes, Leibniz, Hobbes, Rousseau, and Kant; and concluding with 19th and 20th-century thinkers like Nietzsche, Marx, Heidegger, and Deleuze. Together, we will asses how the history of the concept 'Earth' has shaped our relation to the natural world, and the possibility of forging a new perspective, one which could pave the way towards a revitalized relationship with our environment, ultimately crafting a different future trajectory.
Philosophy in the second half of the 20th century was faced with the demands of formulating an adequate response to the world after the second world war: the rise of different forms of totalitarianism, the horrors of the war itself and the role of technology in bringing this about became urgent issues. We will examine two forms of response to this situation. Firstly, we will examine how Critical Theory attempted to explain and move beyond the social contradictions that had been laid bare during this period. Following on from this, the question of the place of language in our relations with the world came to a central focus of attention, giving birth to the ideas of structuralism and post-structuralism. In this part of the course we will engage with the work of Lacan, Derrida, Foucault and Deleuze.
Explore some of the most important ideas, themes and thinkers in the history of Western philosophy. Learn about some of the central problems of philosophy, and how to puzzle them out for yourselves.
For more information contact The Departmental Administrator at admin@marywardcentre.ac.uk
See how long it will take you to get to college. Please select the campus of the course you wish to study.