Syllabus: Aesthetics and Art Theory: Long Term Courses

This course examines some problems of aesthetics and art theory by analysing texts from the history of Western thought. Students will develop appropriate critical and analytical reading skills of philosophical and interdisciplinary texts on topics such as aisthesis, poetics, taste, the sublime, aesthetic judgement, imagination, beauty, spirit, empathy, ornament, the concept of experience, the aura, the psychedelic experience, the concept of the beholder’s share, the theory of the avant-garde, emotion, photography, the essence of art, the concept of influence, the power of images, the end of art, neuroaesthetics, and perception. Furthermore, students will learn to navigate philosophical thought by addressing the following questions: What is aesthetics? What is the difference between speculative aesthetics and empirical aesthetics? What is the difference between an aesthetic judgement and an aesthetic experience? What is art? What is a work of art? What is the role of biology in perception? This course addresses these and other related questions by focusing on the works of various thinkers.