Philosophy and the Arts Phi 260 Oren 112 MWF 11-12 Spring, 2012

Prof. David Apolloni Phone: x-1543; email: apolloni@augsburg.edu Office: Memorial 206 Office Hours: MWF 8-9 a.m. and by appointment Required texts: Barrett, Terry, Why Is That Art?: Aesthetics and Criticism of Contemporary Art (Oxford, 2011). (B) Scruton, Roger, Beauty (Oxford, 2009) (Sc) Sheppard, Anne, Aesthetics: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Art (Oxford, 1987)] (Sh)

The central philosophical question of the course is "What is art?" We will focus on the arguments for and explanations of various theories of art utilizing our texts in class discussion, lecture, and short written assignments.
Course requirements : faithful attendance; a) a series of short (one to three page) essays assigned throughout the course, the lowest grade of which I will drop in calculation of the final grade. Class discussion: Not everyone will or can have something to say in class every time we meet, but on occasion, some students do stand out at contributing significantly to class discussion. I have been known to raise the final grade for such students.

Tentative Schedule: Week 1 Wedneday, January 18 Course introduction, mechanics. Friday, January 20: B1-15. Definitions of Art 1. Realism Monday , January 23: Sh4-17 Wednesday, January 25: Plato vs. Aristotle (B19-25) Friday, January 27: Kitsch, Pornography, meaning of realistic (B26-33). Week 3 Monday, January 30: A modern realistic artist, Jeff Koons (B33-42, color inserts 1-3); Wednesday, February 1: Rockman (B42-8).

Friday, February 3: Serrano (B48-47) 2. Expressionism Week 4 Monday, February 6: Sh18-37 Wednesday, February 8: Continued. Friday, February 10: B57-61; Tolstoy (B66) Week 5 Monday, February 13: Collingwood (B67-8) Wednesday, Febuary 15: Dewey (B68-9) Friday, February 17: Goodman (B69-70) Week 6 Monday, February 20: Danto (B70-1) Wednesday, February 22 An Expressionist Artist: Mitchell (74-82) Friday, February 24: Bourgeois (B83-94) Week 7 Monday, February 27: Smith and limits of expressionism (B94-109) 3. FORMALISM Wednesday, February 29: Introduction (Sh38-55) Friday, March 2: continued; B114-118) Week 8 Monday, March 5: Early FormalismHume (B118-23) Wednesday, March 7: Kant Friday, March 9: No Class Week 9 Monday, March 12: Greenberg (B126--7) Wednesday, March 14 Martin (B131-6) Friday, March 16 Shipiro (B136-42)

March 19-23, Midterm Break Week 10 Monday, March 26: Goldworthy (B142-54) Wednesday, March 28: Dedefinitionalism II. A Theory of Beauty Friday, March 30: Scruton Ch. 1 Week 11 Monday, April 2: Scruton, Ch 2. Wednesday, April 4: Ch. 3 Friday, April 6: Have A Blessed Easter! II. Aesthetic Judgment Week 12 Monday, April 9: Ch. 4 Wednesday, April 11 Ch. 5 Friday, April 13: Continued Week 13 Monday, April 16: Ch. 6 Wednesday, April 18 Ch. 7 Friday, April 20 Ch. 8 Week 14 Monday, April 23: Ch. 9 Wednesday, April 25: Review Friday, April 27: