Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Aesthetics
Other languages of instruction: Catalan, English
Teaching staff
Introduction
Aesthetics is presented as the reflection on beauty and its relationship to love, morality, and truth. The Pythagorean school, and especially Plato, are pioneers in Western culture in proposing an idea of what beauty is; and they do so based on the development of a discourse that includes both reason and feeling, thought and passion.
From this solid foundation, which includes reading Plato's dialogues "The Symposium" and "Phaedrus," we will explore the evolution of Western thought regarding reflections on beauty, culminating in a proposed definition of the meaning of the concept of "aesthetics" in contemporary society.
Likewise, in this regard, students may find it useful to read my "Preliminary Lessons in Aesthetics," a text that will be read and discussed in class and will be provided in PDF format to those students who request it.
Cinema, as can be assumed in a subject of the degree in Audiovisual Communication, will be the guiding thread that accompanies this historical-philosophical inquiry about Beauty.
Pre-course requirements
No.
Objectives
Essentially, the subject aims to teach the student to use some basic concepts of Aesthetics. The subject also aims to offer the student the most complete overview possible of the historical and philosophical reflection on the concept of Beauty, whether that which has been motivated by new artistic movements or those generated by new theoretical and philosophical analyses. The intention, therefore, is not only to provide the student with critical analysis skills in new languages, but also to help him or her to position themselves professionally by understanding the aesthetic and historical foundations of creative culture work.
In this sense, the use of concepts and tools developed by the aesthetic tradition will allow the student a more detailed and richer knowledge of audiovisual discourse and will help him understand the relationships that exist between current exchanges of information and traditional ones, that is, to see the continuity and ruptures that new languages and new technologies imply in symbolic and cognitive production.
Regarding its current context, the course provides the student with tools to update his cultural background while nourishing him with a critical reflection on the aesthetic culture of postmodernity.
Learning outcomes of the subject
- To analyse audience behaviour and characteristics in the contemporary audiovisual environment.
- To contextualise major audiovisual works from their origins in order to understand their influence on the moral values of twentieth- and twenty-first-century societies.
- To explain the aesthetic evolution of audiovisual artistic works throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
- To recognise the dynamics and influences of a globalised world, as well as the impact of the Internet on society, to create audiovisual content that appeals to diverse audiences.
- To understand the economic dimension of the audiovisual sector and the management of audiovisual companies.
- To understand the legal and institutional framework within which professional practice in the audiovisual sector takes place.
- To identify the legal framework governing the production and distribution of information and audiovisual content, including intellectual property and image rights.
- To remain up to date with the contemporary broadcasting landscape and streaming platforms to understand how they adapt to changing audience demands.
- To identify the leading contemporary content creators and their target audiences to understand their influence on different generations.
- To understand the social impact of the diversification of television series available on streaming platforms and to analyse their influence on the values and subcultures of the twenty-first century.
- To develop aesthetic criteria for understanding, evaluating, and relating audiovisual works, while cultivating artistic judgement and sensitivity.
- To analyse contemporary and digital culture by identifying artistic avant-garde movements and their historical evolution, recognising emerging trends, and identifying the principal references and styles of audiovisual language to understand their impact on human communication.
Syllabus
TOPIC 1: Introduction: Aesthetics as an academic discipline
1. Aesthetics and university studies
2. Sense of Aesthetics in the Audiovisual Communication degree
3. Aesthetics and cinematographic art design
TOPIC 2: Aesthetics in Antiquity
1. The Pythagorean School: beauty as a proportion between the parts and the whole
2. Plato: relationship between beauty and love in "The Symposium"
3. Aristotle's "Poetics" and Hellenistic Aesthetics
TOPIC 3: Aesthetics in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
1. Medieval Aesthetics: Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas
2. "The Divine Comedy", an aesthetic and moral reference
3. Platonism and Marsilio Ficino's theory of love
TOPIC 4: Aesthetics in the Modern Age
1. René Descartes and rationalist Aesthetics
2. David Hume and subjectivism
3. Immanuel Kant: the "Critique of Judgment" and "The Beautiful and the Sublime"
TOPIC 5: Contemporary Aesthetics
1. Hegel: the idea of progress and the "Death of Art"
2. Nietzsche and the eternal struggle between Apollo and Dionysus
3. Postmodern Aesthetics
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
- Continuous assessment (weekly worksheets and midterm exam): 40%
- Final project: 60%
For the second call, the pending part (or parts) must be made up, either the continuous assessment, the final project, or both parts
Bibliography and resources
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