ARTH 383 Art and Philosophy: Art, Aesthetics, and Experience

• Instructor: Kristen Lewis

In this course we will leave aside aesthetic philosophies that seek to rigidly define and evaluate art and instead engage with those that question after the purpose and value of art in human experience. Centrally, we will consider the role of art in creating and defining the shape of our experience as individual, social, and political subjects. By looking at art within specific and local contexts, we will consider how the nature, function, and value of art is subject to change.

Each class will be organized around a specific theme related to the course’s main topic, such as aesthetic education, aesthetic freedom, and aesthetic community. Readings from philosophers, critical theorists, artists, and art historians will inform our study, while a variety of artworks, from antiquity to the contemporary period, will help us think through what is introduced in the readings. No prior training or experience in philosophy is required to take this course, only a commitment to the shared exploration of difficult ideas.