LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims at giving a general outline of basic aesthetic problems. The main points of interest are a general historical introduction, the ontological status of the art object, the receiver’s role in the construction of its meaning. Students will be guided through the reading of one or more classics in aesthetics.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students are expected to manage the concept of aesthetics and the main notions connected with it, in particular that of art. As for the students of the Schools of Humanities and Social Sciences who have included the discipline in their study plan for 6 credits, as well as the students of the Polytechnic School who have included the discipline in their study plan for 8 credits, it is also expected that they are able to apply this conceptual apparatus to their specific areas. In the second part of the class, which is specific for students who have included the discipline in their study plan for 9 credits, we will read some articles or book chapters, in order to familiarize students with the main debates of contemporary aesthetics, and to lead them to the critical discussion of the theses and arguments proposed by the philosophers who participate in those debates.

The expected learning outcomes are the following:

1) To be able to provide an appropriate characterization of aesthetics as a philosophical discipline, and to point out the importance of the aesthetic dimension in human existence.

2) To be familiar with fundamental notions of the discipline such as aesthetic experience, aesthetic judgment, aesthetic value, aesthetic property, aesthetic object.

3) To link aesthetics with art and with the practices of creation, appreciation and criticism of art.

4) To reflect on the definition of art and on the ontological status of works of art.

5) To consider the specificities of certain art forms and certain artistic genres.

6) To recognize analogies, differences and overlaps between the domain of art and that of technical artifacts.
7) To analyze texts that are exemplary of the main debates in contemporary aesthetics, by identifying their theses and their arguments.

In particular, the outcomes from (1) to (5) are expected from students of the Humanities and Social Sciences Schools who have included aeshtetics in their plan for 6 credits. As for students of the Polytechnic School who have included aeshtetics in their plan for 8 credits, outcome (6) is also expected. As for students who have included aesthetics in their plan for 9 credits, all seven outcomes are expected.

PREREQUISITES

Although the class is taught in Italian, understanding of texts written in English is required

TEACHING METHODS

Teaching in rpesence, rooms "Metellino" and "Fieschi" (Vivaldi Street n° 5, Genoa)

(online: Teams, code: 2fg4kg2)

The class consists of 60 hours (40 for students having 6 or 8 credits), with phases of collective discussion and learning verification. Seminar activities are foreseen for students having 9 credits. The students of the Polytechnic School are required to present a “slide show” in ppt or pdf format, the maximum duration of which is ten minutes. The theme of the “slide show” must be agreed with the professor: students are invited to analyze in philosophical terms a particular design object.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Program for students having 6 or 8 credits:

- Aesthetics within the framework of philosophy

- The centrality of the aesthetic dimension in human existence

- The key notions of aesthetics: experience, judgment, value, norm, property, object

- The role of perception, imagination, cognition and emotions in aesthetic experience

- Art as a paradigm of the aesthetic

- The definition of art

- The ontology of art

- Art forms and artistic genres

- The peculiarity of contemporary art

- The relationship between art and technology

- Technological arts and artistic technologies

Additional program items for students having 9 credits:

- Writing and publishing in contemporary aesthetics

- Debates in contemporary aesthetics

- The construction of statements and arguments in contemporary aesthetics

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Students having 6 CFU:

NICK ZANGWILL, La metafisica della bellezza, Marinotti, Milano, 2011 (Introduction, Part One and Part Two).
(ed. or.: The Metaphysics of Beauty, New York, Cornell University Press, 2001)

ELISA CALDAROLA, Filosofia dell’arte contemporanea, Quodlibet, Macerata, 2020 (Introduction, Chapters I and IV)

Students having 8 CFU (students of Polytechnic School, for whom, however, only attendance for 6 credits is mandatory):

NICK ZANGWILL, La metafisica della bellezza, Marinotti, Milano, 2011 (Introduction, Part One and Part Two).
(ed. or.: The Metaphysics of Beauty, New York, Cornell University Press, 2001)

ELISA CALDAROLA, Filosofia dell’arte contemporanea, Quodlibet, Macerata, 2020 (Introduction, Chapters I and IV)

ANDREA MECACCI, Estetica e design, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2021 (Introduction, Part Two and Part Three)

Students having 9 CFU:

NICK ZANGWILL, La metafisica della bellezza, Marinotti, Milano, 2011 (the whole volume)
(ed. or.: The Metaphysics of Beauty, New York, Cornell University Press, 2001)

ELISA CALDAROLA, Filosofia dell’arte contemporanea, Quodlibet, Macerata, 2020 (the whole volume)