Philosophy of Art
Philosophy 227
Bates
College
William Seeley
What is Art? What makes a photograph
on the wall at the Museum of Modern Art different from the one on the front
page of the Daily News? What makes a
landscape painting more (or less!) interesting than a snapshot? Our commonsense
understanding of art tells us that artworks are in some way special. Art is
often beautiful. It is sometimes provocative and controversial. But it is
notoriously difficult to identify just what it is that makes artworks unique.
In fact, it is sometimes difficult to understand why particular artworks are
considered special at all. Philosophy of Art is a branch of philosophy
concerned with answers to just these types of questions. In this course we will
examine four broad issues that have defined philosophical aesthetics: What is
the relationship between art and representation? What does it mean to say that
an artwork expresses an emotion? What role does the formal structure of
artworks play in explanations of art? What is an aesthetic experience, and what
role, if any, does our knowledge of a culture play in shaping these
experiences? We will also discuss a range of philosophical issues associated
with particular art forms. Finally, despite disagreements about the nature of
art most would agree that art must be experienced to be understood. Therefore,
throughout the course we will both make art and look at particular artworks as
illustrations of the views discussed.
Art, Meaning,
and Perception (FND 182)
Cognitivist
Theories of Film (S24a)
Aesthetics and
Cognitive Science
Group Installation Work
The Collaborative Drawing
Project
Constrained
Views, Natural Vistas, and the Constructed Landscape