PHIL321

This course will be a comprehensive survey of aesthetics, the philosophy of art and beauty. Art (for example, visual art, music, literature, or architecture) and natural beauty reprominent themes in aesthetics. This course will survey different topics in aesthetics, and we will all become philosophers. Some questions we will ask ourselves are: What is art? ls art necessarily beautiful? ls beauty objective or subjective’? What does it mean to have an aesthetic experience? We will read ancient, modern, and contemporary works from European, American, and Chinese philosophy. We will learn through conversation, working and learning in groups, and writing papers and exams.