PHILOSOPHY OF ART

Single discipline educational activity

Course Sheet

Academic Year of enrolment:

2022/2023

Type of Course:

Related/Supplementary

Optional/Mandatory:

Compulsory

Degree:

Bachelor's Degree Programme in DESIGN

Disciplinary Sector:

LOGIC AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

Language:

Italian

Credits:

Programme Year:

Professor and Collaborators:

BACCHINI Fabio

Hours of classroom activity:

Prerequisites:

none

AF code:

A003407

Assessment Methods

Verification of learning:

Written exam. The exam usually consists in 5/6 open questions in English. The accepted languages for answers are: French, English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese.

Teaching period

First semester

Objectives

• Knowledge and understanding:
By the end of the class the students will possess a basic knowledge in contemporary analytic approaches to philosophy of art, and an advanced capacity of using them in order to bring light on some issues such as: What is art? Is design art? More specifically, are industrial design and graphic design art? Particular attention will be given to the issue of the ontology of art, in order to investigate what precisely a work of art belonging to each art form consist in.

• Applying knowledge and understanding:
The main goal of the class is to make the students able to use a basic mastery of the ontology of art forms for developing arguments for and against the many rival positions concerning specific issues in the field.

• Making judgements:
By the end of the class the students will be able to develop new arguments within specific debates in philosophy of art, and to estimate the strength of one specific argument in comparison to a rival one.

• Communication skills:
The students will be able to express their own intuitions in aesthetics by using the language of professional analytic philosophy; to build up arguments in favour and against every conceivable position; to engage into an argumentative challenge with one or more than one interlocutors; to correctly evaluate their own and others’ argumentative performances.

• Learning skills:
The class is aimed at letting the students have the skills for developing higher-level knowledge in current analytic philosophy and ontology of art, and generally speaking in critical thought, over time.

Contents

What is art? What is not art? Definitions of art. Possibile criteria for distinguishing works of art from mere objects or events. The limits of the stipulative power of the author. The role of the title. The role of the context. The role of the experts and consumers of art. The importance of the historical dimension. Arthur Danto’s theory of art. Nelson Goodman: one-stage and two-stage arts; allographic and autographic arts. The many forms of art. The case of product, visual and communication design. When does a work of art starts existing? When does a work of art cease to exist? Is it possible for a work of art to cease to exist other than by being physically destroyed? Philosophy of contemporary art. Installation art. Performance art. Site-specific art.

Recommended Bibliography

1. personal notes from classes.
2. Arthur C. Danto, 1981, The Transfiguration of the Commonplace, Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard University Press.
3. Nelson Goodman, 1968, The Languages of Art, Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill, only chapter 3, “Art and Authenticity”.
4. Elisa Caldarola, 2020, “On Experiencing Installation Art”, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 78(3): 339-343.
5. Elisa Caldarola, 2021, “On Tags and Conceptual Street Art”, Philosophical Inquiries, IX (2): 93-114.
6. Elisa Caldarola, 2021, “Architecture and Sites: A Lesson from the Categorization of Artworks”, Croatian Journal of Philosophy, 21(1), 2021: 5-24.

Methods of Provision

Conventional

Teaching Methods

Active participation; students will be asked to produce arguments to support or reject theories and points of view.

Contacts/More Information

none

PHILOSOPHY OF ART

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PHILOSOPHY OF ART