UNIT I: Art, Non-art, and the Aesthetic
February 2
"Art, Philosophy, and the Philosophy of Art," by Arthur Danto
February 9
"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 23: Representation
"The Ion" by Plato
"The Republic (Book X) by Plato
March 2: Representation
"Poetics" by Aristotle
March 9: Formalism
"Art" by Clive Bell
March 16: Expressionism
"What Is Art?" By Leo Tolstoy
March 23: 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
April 13: Moral Value and Aesthetic Value
"The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde
Idealization of the Human Form in Nazi Art
"The Republic (Book X) by Plato (#200-319)
April 20: Subjectivity vs. Objectivity in Aesthetic Value
"Of the Standard of Taste" by David Hume
April 27: Art and the First Amendment
May 4: 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)