AESTHETICSsyllabus2.docx

1、AESTHETICSsyllabus2Syllabus Course Syllabus for PHIL 0931102 - Aesthetics WISpring 2009 - Rowan UniversityBunce Hall 321 - Monday and Wednesday, 3:15 - 4:30 pmProfessor David ClowneyCourse Methods: The course will consist of readings, some looking and listening assignments, class discussion and pres

2、entations, visits to various exhibits, concerts, and performances, and regular writing assignments, both graded and ungraded. Graded assignments include two short essays in criticism and the preparation of a term project in philosophical aesthetics, to be designed in consultation with the instructor

3、. Ungraded assignments include five event reports, a reading response paper every week, and various in-class writing exercises. Your grade will be based on the quality of your critical essays (40%), the quality and regularity of your class participation and reading responses (13%), your attendance a

4、t five events, each documented by a one page response (10%), and the quality of your final project (37%). Course Policies: In my ideal educational world, there would be no grades. Teacher student relationships would be voluntary, and they would be individually negotiated according to the interests o

5、f the student and the professor. We dont live in that world. In the world where we do live, I find the following policies, to be necessary, and I expect you to adhere to them. You must meet all deadlines and complete all assignments. Missed deadlines may be penalized by as much as a letter grade. Pa

6、pers more than a week late will not be accepted unless you have negotiated an extension in advance. Final projects will not be accepted without prior review of a rough draft. I expect regular attendance, both at class sessions and at our first Friday excursion, and other such events.* The class need

7、s your contribution, and you need the discussions and experiences that happen when we meet. You are allowed three absences; after that your participation grade will suffer. Meanwhile, please make every effort to submit your work on time even if you must be absent. All work must be sumitted electroni

8、cally through Blackboard. I dont need hard copy unless you are having trouble with Blackboard, and even then I prefer that you e-mail your paper to me. * Note: I am flexible about scheduled activities outside of normal class time, since you were not aware of them when you signed up for this class an

9、d made your schedule for the semester. If you cant make an outing, let me know, and well make other arrangements. Stay in touch! If you cant make class or are having trouble with an assignment, e-mail me, or make an appointment and come see me. Class starts promptly at 3:15, and ends at 4:30. Come o

10、n time and stay until class is over. Online Component: The course syllabus, a list of concerts, exhibits, and other events, sample critical essays, course lecture notes, images, sounds, and as much else as I am able to prepare, will be available on line. Start at my home page (http:/www.rowan.edu/ph

11、ilosop/clowney), and click on Aesthetics. You may communicate with me by e-mail (clowneyrowan.edu). I will communicate with you using your Rowan e-mail account. It is your responsibility to check this regularly, whether or not it is the account you normally use. If you like, you can set it up to for

12、ward your mail to the account you do use. We will be using Blackboard as an instructional tool in certain parts of the course. Your Rowan username and password will give you access to MyBlackboard, and from there you will have access to this class. Assignments and some handouts will be posted there.

13、 You will submit all your assignments there; I will only collect hard copies of assignments if there are problems with Blackboard. You may also use the Blackboard Discussion tool to discuss certain of your assignments with each other and help each other to improve them before handing your rough draf

14、ts to me. Ill give further instructions for this in class. Course Outline: The course will develop along several axes simultaneously. We will pay attention to several arts, namely painting and sculpture (about four weeks worth); music (also four weeks); and a mixture of theater and dance, photograph

15、y and film, and fiction and poetry during the remaining weeks of the semester. We will view, read, or listen to particular works (including student works), and we will discuss issues in philosophical aesthetics and the philosophy of the arts raised by the works or the media they represent. We will a

16、lso read and discuss essays by several philosophers and critics about the arts. We will discuss a number of topics, including those raised by the list of questions on the last page. We will attend First Friday in Philadelphias gallery district on February 6th, and may attend some concerts and other

17、arts events. We will also have an in-class concert, and some guests. Course Texts: S.D. Ross, Art and Its Significance (NY: SUNY Press, 1994); an anthology of readings by philosophers and artists. Honore de Balzac, The Unknown Masterpiece and Gambara, Introduction by Arthur Danto. (NY, 2001, New Yor

18、k Review of Books Classics). We will read the first of these two novellas, The Unknown Masterpiece, by this great nineteenth century novelist, and the introduction to it by philosopher of art and art critic for The Nation magazine Arthur Danto.Carl Wilson, Lets Talk about Live: A Journey to the End

19、of Taste (NY: Continuum, 2007).Also, some photocopied essays, to be handed out from time to time (and available on Blackboard). Reading, Viewing, and Listening Assignments will be made week by week. Other assignments will be due periodically. See Week by Week below for a list of these asssignments w

20、ith their due dates. They will also ber posted on Blackboard. You are responsible to know what they are, and to keep up with them, whether or not I announce them in class. Please start reading the Wilson book right away, and keep reading it in small doses until April 8, when we will discuss it. Its

21、much easier than most of our readings, but you still cant expect to read it all in a few hours! A chapter a week, starting this week, should do the trick and might give us some extra material for class discussion before April 8. How to submit your assignments on Blackboard. Click the menu item calle

22、d Assignments on the menu sidebar on the left of the Blackboard home page for this course. (If the sidebar is really thin and shows icons but no text, click the arrow on its right side to expand it.) Scroll down until you see the assignment you need to submit. The 13 reading responses are the last o

23、n the list, so you probably wont even see the first one (due Monday) until you start scrolling down.For January 26th, familiarize yourself with the course web-page. Read the introduction to Larry Shiners The Invention of Art, and do the viewing assignment on African Art listed in the syllabus. Write

24、 about a page summarizing these readings and exhibitions, submit it to Blackboard before class begins, and come to class prepared to discuss. Our topic for the introductory sessions (1/21 and 1/26) is the relation between the universal elements common in the arts, which often earns them the name of

25、a universal language, and the historical and social origins of our common distinctions between fine art and other arts (craft, popular art, commercial art and design, entertainment, etc.). These distinctions and the baggage that comes with them are fundamental to the modern idea of art. Rather than

26、argue about whether to accept them, we will look at their historical origin and social function. Next week, we will discuss the topics of art as representation and of art and morality.Graded assignments:- Two critical essays, each on some work of art that interests you. Each of these will be submitt

27、ed as a rough draft. Youll receive comments from me and two classmates, and hand in a final draft about a week later. I prefer that you write about something new, that doesnt have a lot written about it yet. But there are other options. See class discussion.- One final project: see description below

28、. There are many ways to fulfil this assignment; see the website for a longer description and some examples. Rather than make the requirements too narrow, Ive chosen to make the process interactive, and help you define your project in stages. This means that I must see your proposal and your rough d

29、raft.- Presentation related to your final project. 5-10 minutes, sign up. Course Instructional Staff: You and I! I mean this seriously. Many of you are working artists, and you have more expertise in your artistic field than I have. Some of you are health and exercise science or psychology or commun

30、ications or business majors, and by now you know more about some parts of your chosen field than I know. Sometimes that knowledge will be relevant to our study of the philosophy of art. On the other hand, I have more expertise in philosophy than you do, and after teaching this course for many years

31、Ive also picked up a lot of knowledge about the arts. By sharing our knowledge, our experiences, and our questions, we will produce an exciting and worthwhile course. You are as essential to this result as I am. My office is on the third floor of Bunce Hall, in the Philosophy and Religion Department

32、s part of the building (Bunce 315). My office hours are Monday and Wednesday, 10:50 a.m to 12:05 p.m. I am available at other times also if necessary. Please come see me! You are welcome to drop by any time; but if you want to be sure we connect, please make an appointment (that goes for office hours as well as other times). My e-mail is clowneyrowan.edu. Feel free to e-mail me with questions or to tell me anything I should know about.Deadlines for Written Assignments: First critical essay 2/11 (rough draft), 2/18 (final draft) Project proposal 2/9 Second critical essay 3/4, 3/11Project