On-Line Reading

UNIT I: Art, Non-art, and the Aesthetic

February 3

"Art, Philosophy, and the Philosophy of Art," by Arthur Danto

February 10

"Comments on Andres Serrano" by members of the United States Senate

Definition of "the Arts" by the United States Congress

"'Psychical Distance' as a Factor in Art and as an Aesthetic Principle" by Edward Bullough

UNIT II. Major Theories of the Arts

February 24: Representation

"The Ion" by Plato

"The Republic (Book X) by Plato

"Poetics" by Aristotle

March 3: Formalism

"Art" by Clive Bell

March 10: Expressionism

"What Is Art?" By Leo Tolstoy

March 17: Contemporary

"Radical Changes in Aesthetics" by Joseph Margolis

"Works in Progress: Art and the Historical Modalities" by Arthur Danto

"Art, the Mind and the Brain" by Gregory Currie

UNIT III. The Value of Art

March 30: Moral Value and Aesthetic Value

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde

"The Republic (Book X) by Plato (#200-319)

April 7: Subjectivity vs. Objectivity in Aesthetic Value

"Of the Standard of Taste" by David Hume

April 14: Art and the First Amendment

"Freedom of Expression"

April 21: Government Funding of the Arts

"Government Support for Cultural Activities"

"Government Funding and the First Amendment"

Andrew, Dudley, "Cinema & Culture" (Humanities, 1985)

Benjamin, Walter, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Binkley, Timothy, "Refiguring Culture" (1993)

Cavell, Stanley, "A Capra Moment" (Humanities, 1985)

Day, William, "A Conversation With Lydia Goehr" (Conference, 1996)

Deutsch, Stephen, "Music & Technology: The Composer in the Age of the Internet" (1996)

Dutton, Denis, "Death of a Forger" (American Society for Aesthetics, 1996)

Freeland, Cynthia A., "Feminist Film Theory" (University of Houston, 1996)

Gombrich, E.H., "The Literature of Art" (Art Documentation, 1992)

Halvorson, Jonathan, "A Conversation With Arthur Danto" (Conference, 1996)

Loesberg, Jonathan, "Bourdieu and the Sociology of Aesthetics" (ELH, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996)

Miller, Mara, "Teaching Japanese Aesthetics: Whys and Hows for Non-Specialists" (American Society for Aesthetics, 1996)

Roberts, David D., "Croce in America: Influence, Misunderstanding, and Neglect" (Humanitas, 1995)

Sartwell, Crispin, "Teaching Non-Western Aesthetics, Teaching Popular Art" (American Society for Aesthetics, 1996)

Turner, Mark, Death is the mother of beauty: mind, metaphor, criticism (University of Chicago Press, 1987)

Turner, Mark, "Design for a Theory of Meaning" (Erlbaum, 1994)