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 cinema and theater. 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 provide an appropriate characterization of aesthetics as a philosophical discipline and the importance of the aesthetic dimension in human existence.

2) To be familiar with fundamental notions of the discipline.

3) To relate aesthetic judgment and moral judgment.

4) To understand cinema as an art form.

5) To understand theater as an art form.

6) To critically read texts pertaining to debates in contemporary aesthetics, identifying their theses and arguments.

PREREQUISITES

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

TEACHING METHODS

Teaching in presence

The class consists of 60 hours (40 for students having 6 or 8 credits), with phases of collective discussion and learning verification. There will be seminar activities for 9-credit students.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

- Aesthetics within the framework of philosophy

- The centrality of the aesthetic dimension of human existence

- The fundamental notions of aesthetics

- Aesthetic values and moral values

- Cinema as an art form

- Theater as an art form

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Students having 6 CFU:

PINOTTI ANDREA (a cura di), Il primo libro di estetica, Einaudi

DE CARO MARIO & TERRONE ENRICO, I valori al cinema: una prospettiva etico-estetica, Mondadori (in corso di stampa)

Supplementary text for students who cannot attend the classes: NIETZSCHE, FRIEDRICH, La nascita della tragedia, Adelphi

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

PINOTTI ANDREA (a cura di), Il primo libro di estetica, Einaudi

DE CARO MARIO & TERRONE ENRICO, I valori al cinema: una prospettiva etico-estetica, Mondadori (in corso di stampa)

Supplementary text for students who cannot attend the classes: NIETZSCHE, FRIEDRICH, La nascita della tragedia, Adelphi

Students having 9 CFU:

PINOTTI ANDREA (a cura di), Il primo libro di estetica, Einaudi

DE CARO MARIO & TERRONE ENRICO, I valori al cinema: una prospettiva etico-estetica, Mondadori (in corso di stampa)

JAEGER WERNER, Paideia, Bompiani (Libro secondo: Apogeo e crisi dello spirito attico)

Supplementary text for students who cannot attend the classes: NIETZSCHE, FRIEDRICH, La nascita della tragedia, Adelphi