Aesthetics I
Main language of instruction: Catalan
Head instructor
Dra. Magdalena BOSCH - mbosch@uic.es
Office hours
To make an appointment with the professor, please write an email.
This subject aims for the student to acquire specific knowledge about the origin, evolution and different fields of Aesthetics history; as well as the topics, vocabulary and classical debates of the discipline. The student will go through the main authors and their texts to articulate the thought on the main ideas of the discipline.
This methodology aims for the student to have a good knowledge of critical tools to understand and build Aesthetics history and think over fundamental categories transversely.
There are no previous requisites
The subject's goals are:
To know the history of the school of thought and culture.
To know the fundamental periods of the Art and Philosphy confluence, as well as the affinities with other kinds of thinking.
To understand the human dimension in the aesthetical experience
To gain knowledge out of texts' analysis
To recognize fundamental ideas of the authors learnt in class and to be able to make a powerful introduction.
To understand Aesthetics' origin in the frame of its cultural context.
To build connections between different artistical disciplines in the frame of philosophical thought.
To know about the main debate on Beauty and Art carried out by the authors, artists, academics, philosophers and Art critics.
To recognize humanistical references from the past to understand their actual influence.
Syllabus
Introduction
What is aesthetics?
The study of what is beautiful
An historical approach to the aesthetics
Theme 1. Beauty of nature
Nature reflecting the human soul
Nature as the face of divinity
The creator strength of nature
Theme 2. What is beauty?
Beauty and perfection
Useless beauty
Define beauty. History
The most sublime of what humans are capable
Experience, heritage, culture, concept
What no one sees
Theme 3. The human necessity of beauty
How it affects the spirit
The feelings towards beauty
Peace
Theme 4. Beauty, Truth and Goodness
Beauty and the good
Goodness as a condition to see the beautiful
Beauty and order
Beauty and proportion
Canons and rules
Theme 5. Beauty and love
Beauty is the object of love
Eros leads toward beauty
The universal harmony is a loving one
Theme 6: The aesthetical judgement
Judgement and interest
The right judgement
The mature judgement
The rational judgement
Judgement and taste
Theme 7. Beauty of people
Beauty of the soul
From internal beauty to external beauty
Beauty and gesture
First impressions
The face and the mask
Human face as poetical expression
Theme 8. Spiritual Beauty
The intelligent beauty
Reason and passion
Beauty redeems
The ecstasy
Beyond mere perception
Theme 9. Beauty and Freedom
Schiller: freedom in appearance is beauty
An internal law
Theme 10. The beautiful and the sublime
The origin of the idea of beauty
The contrast between two concepts
The romantic vision
The romantic comprehension of the Antique sublime
Theme 11. The form
Perfection is the form of some matter
The aesthetical pleasure comes from the form
The Gestalt school
Theme 12. Art
The creator self-conscience
The creator spirit
The artist
To create a work of art is to fund a world
The human dimension of art
The inspiration
Is art everything we call so?
Theme 13. The ugly
The meaning of the distance between the ugly and the beautiful
The function of ugliness on art
Aesthetics of fear
a) Reading of some key texts
b) Text commentary
c) Discussion of some examples
d) Practical exercises of analysis and reflexion
1. Compulsory Reading 30%
2. Presentation in class 20%
3. Work in class 20%
4. Final Exam 30%
ADVICE NOTES
1. In this course it is very important to make proper use of language in written tests, essays and oral presentations, both from the point of view of grammar and spelling and punctuation and wording. A proper use of terms specific to the discipline is also particularly relevant. The criteria to be followed before any of these errors is as follows: 0.25 will be lowered for misspelling or incorrect words in essays and exams.
2. Advice on plagiarism
Plagiarism is the use of material appropriated from another source or from other sources with the intention of passing it off as one’s own work. Plagiarism may take the form of unacknowledged quotes or substantial paraphrasing. Sources of material include all printed and electronically-available publications in English or other languages, or unpublished materials, including theses, written by others.
To avoid plagiarism, you must quote the source whenever ideas written by another person are used and even if the quote is not direct and is paraphrasing or summarising someone else’s ideas. In direct quotes, one must use quotation marks and quote the source. In an academic essay, it is not enough to generally record the literature used, but it is necessary to explicitly mention the source where ideas written by someone else come from.
Plagiarism in written essays for this course is unacceptable and, therefore, any work in which plagiarism is committed will be evaluated with a zero.
BRUYNE, E.; La estética de la edad media. Madrid: Visor, 1994.
ECO, U. Art i bellesa en l'estètica medieval. Barcelona: Destino, 1990.
PLAZAOLA, Juan; Introducción a la estética: historia, teoría y textos. Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, 1991
TATARKIEWICZ, w.; Historia de seis ideas. Madrid: Tecnos, 1992.
TATARKIEWICZ, W.; Historia de la estética I. La estética antigua. Madrid: Ediciones Akal, 1987.
TATARKIEWICZ, W.; Historia de la estética II. La estética medieval. Madrid: Ediciones Akal, 1989.
VALVERDE, J.M.; Breve historia y antología de la estética. Madrid: Ariel, 2011.
YARZA, I.; Introducción a la estética. Navarra: EUNSA, 2004.