Aesthetics

Course Description
This course provides an introduction to issues in philosophy of art. We begin by examining
questions about what makes art distinctive, and about the status of our evaluative judgments
concerning art. Questions here include: What is art? What do our judgments about whether
some work of art is beautiful or ugly express? Are such evaluative judgments objective or
subjective? We then turn to more specific topics in the philosophy of art, including forgery,
photography, horror, and pornography. We will ask: What makes certain copies of paintings
forgeries? Do exact copies of a work of art have the same artistic qualities as the original? Do
we value photographic works of art merely for the things they depict, or for their own sake?
Why do we enjoy horror movies? What is the difference between pornography and erotic
art? Finally, we conclude by examining questions about the value of art in society. Is art
dangerous? What is the value of art to society? Should the government subsidize the arts,
and if so, why?

Primary Textbooks:
1. Aesthetics: A Comprehensive Anthology, ed. Steven M. Cahn and Aaron Meskin (Blackwell,
2008)
2. Arguing about Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates, ed. Alex Neill and Aaron Ridley
(Routledge, 2007)

I. What is Art?
Art as Imitation
1. Plato, Ion
2. Plato, Republic, Book X, 595a-608b
3. Aristotle, Poetics

Art as Expression
1. Leo Tolstoy, “What is Art?”
2. R. G. Collingwood, selections from The Principles of Art

Art as Form
1. Clive Bell, “Art”

Rejections of Formalism
1. Arthur Danto, “The Artworld”
2. Kendall Walton, “Categories of Art”

II. The Nature of Aesthetic Judgments

1. David Hume, “Of the Standard of Taste”
2. Immanuel Kant, selections from the Critique of Judgment
3. Andy Egan, “Disputing about Taste” (2010)

III. Topics in Aesthetics

Forgery
1. Nelson Goodman, Languages of Art, Chapter 3
 2. Sherri Irvin, “Appropriation and Authorship in Contemporary Art”
3. Alfred Lessing, “What is Wrong with a Forgery?”

Photography
1. Roger Scruton, “Photography and Representation”
2. Dominic McIver Lopes, “The Aesthetics of Photographic Transparency”
3. Dawn M. Phillips, “The Real Challenge for an Aesthetics of Photography”

Horror
1. Noel Carroll, “Why Horror?”
2. Berys Gaut, “The Paradox of Horror”

Pornography
1. Hans Maes: “Who Says Pornography Can’t Be Art?”
2. Matthew Kieran, “Pornographic Art”
3. Jerrold Levinson, “Erotic Art and Pornographic Pictures”

IV. The Value of Art in Society

1. (Re-read) Plato, Republic, Book X, 595a-608b
Optional: Jessica Moss, “What is Imitative Poetry and Why is it Bad?” (2007)
2. Noel Carroll, “Can Government Funding of the Arts Be Justified Theoretically?”
3. Joel Feinberg: “Not with My Tax Money: The Problem of Justifying Government
Subsidies for the Arts”