Aesthetics

This course explores the history of aesthetic to the present day. The course is designed to provide students with an introduction to the discipline of aesthetics and philosophy of art, with particular reference to the historical development of the subject and its relation to the arts, literature, music, cinema and photography. At the end of the course, students are expected to demonstrate an understanding of basic concepts and methods of aesthetics and philosophy of art. Students will gain an understanding of the nature of beauty, art, and philosophy; they will also be introduced to the central questions of aesthetics.

Dublin descriptors:

A. Demonstrable knowledge and insight about philosophical reasoning in general and the fundamental concepts of aesthetics in particular.

B. Ability to apply one's knowledge and insight to new or unknown aesthetic problems.

C.  Ability to formulate judgements on aesthetic issues, taking into account the social responsibilities associated with the application of one's knowledge in the education of new generations regarding the role of art in the lives of individuals and society.

D. Ability to communicate one's knowledge clearly and unambiguously to people with and without a background in philosophy and aesthetics.

E. Learning skills that enable one to enter into a follow-up study with a largely self-directed or autonomous character.

The teaching will be carried out through lectures, a method that will ensure the transmission of contents and methods. In order to achieve the objectives relating to learning and communication skills, questions for clarification and deepening by the students will be encouraged during the lessons.

The lecture on Manganiello's text will be held in English.

 

If the course is delivered in blended or remote mode, appropriate adjustments may be made to the above, in order to ensure consistency with the syllabus.

No prior knowledge is required.

Class attendance is strongly recommended, because the exposition of philosophical theories by the professor greatly facilitates the acquisition of the contents by the students.

The absence of a specific domain of aesthetics in classical antiquity. The contributions of Greek and Roman thought to the history of Western aesthetics. The “Great Theory” of European aesthetics. Beauty and structural perfection. Archaism. Plato. Aristotle. Hellenism. Horace. "Longinus". Plotinus. The Greek idea of "beautiful order" (kosmos). The experience of art. The adequacy of form to content. The structural framework of artistic objects. The effect of artistic objects on viewers/receivers. The classical model of aesthetics. The absence of aesthetic rules. The history of the idea of beauty. The beautiful, the true, and the good. The breakdown of the harmonic paradigm of a perfect cosmic order. The manifold and the individual in the modern age. The revenge of the sublime and the ugly at the end of the eighteenth century. The aesthetic value of deformity and dissonance in the twentieth century. The discredit affecting the concept of beauty today. The story of Dorian Gray. The replacement of an ethical consciousness with an aesthetic one. The creed of the aesthete. How can art be aesthetically beautiful and morally destructive at the same time? Aspects of Oscar Wilde’s psyche in Lord Henry Wotton, Dorian, and Basil Hallward. Narcissism as a metaphor. The legend of Faust. The Picture of Dorian Gray as an attack on dualism.

Giovanni Lombardo, L’estetica antica, Il Mulino 2002, 240 pp. [ISBN: 978-88-15-08850-5]

Remo Bodei, Le forme del bello, Il Mulino 1995, 144 pp. [ISBN: 978-88-15-38657-1]

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, ed. by Robert Mighall, Penguin Classics 2003, 304 pp. [ISBN: ‎ 978-0141439570] (the part of the exam on this text will cover not only the reading of the novel, but also Mighall’s introduction)

Dominic Manganiello, Ethics and Aesthetics in “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies, 9.2 (1983), pp. 25-33. [available on the website of the course on Studium]

Midterm Exam

Midterm tests on the course content are scheduled, in the form of a multiple-choice questionnaire administered via Microsoft Teams.

Students must pass this test with a score of at least 18/30 to avoid having to take the official oral exam on that section of the program.

The purpose of the midterm tests is summative, and the assessment results in a grade that is averaged into the final grade.

 

Final exam.

Oral examination, assessed on the basis of the following elements: relevance of the answers to the questions asked (necessary to pass the exam); content quality, ability to connect the various parts of the course, proper philosophical language, overall expressive skills (all these elements contribute to the final evaluation, provided that the answers are relevant).

Learning assessment may also be carried out on-line, should the conditions require it.

To ensure equal opportunities and in compliance with current laws, interested students may request a personal interview in order to plan any compensatory and/or dispensatory measures based on educational objectives and specific needs. Students can also contact the CInAP (Centro per l’integrazione Attiva e Partecipa- ta — Servizi per le Disabilità e/o i DSA) referring teacher within their department (https://www.cinap.unict.it/content/referenti).

Final grade attribution criteria:

18 to 21 (Sufficient): The student possesses foundational knowledge of the core contents of the course; demonstrates a minimal ability to apply theoretical and methodological skills, and an elementary command of the discipline's specific terminology.

22 to 25 (Fair): The student demonstrates a fair knowledge of the course contents, a good capacity for comprehension and independent critical processing of the topics covered, as well as an appropriate use of specialized vocabulary and design/project references.

26 to 29 (Good / Very Good): The student possesses an in-depth and comprehensive knowledge of the course themes; is able to critically connect theories with practical and operational contexts, demonstrating an excellent command of presentation and argumentation.

30 to 30 with distinction (Excellent / Excellent with distinction): The student demonstrates an excellent, thorough, and critical knowledge of all course contents; highlights a marked capacity for independent processing, critical analysis, and advanced application to educational and design/project contexts, accompanied by an exceptional command of specialized terminology.

In what sense, for the ancient Greeks, did the discovery of beauty coincide with the intuition of the universe?

In what sense does Plotinus have a heuristic conception of art?

What was the oldest conception of beauty?

How has the concept of the ugly evolved?

In what sense is aesthetic experience always the experience of a choice?

In what sense is art autonomous?

What are the errors of traditional aesthetics?

In what sense, according to Kennick, are aesthetic criteria relative?

What was the oldest conception of beauty?

How has the concept of the ugly evolved?

What does it mean, according to Socrates, to be an expert in poetry?

What choice does Socrates present Ion with at the end of the homonymous dialogue?

According to Mighall, what major parallel existed between Oscar Wilde's personal life and the plot of The Picture of Dorian Gray during the time he wrote the novel?

Read this passage from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and explain its meaning, contextualizing it within the work.

What does Mighall suggest is the overarching “moral” of the story found in the novel's final paragraph, particularly in relation to how the book was received by the public?

Why does Manganiello disagree with scholars who believe that in The Picture of Dorian Gray Wilde subordinates ethics to aesthetics?

In what sense does The Picture of Dorian Gray have an ethical beauty?