Phenomenology of Art and Culture
masters/doctoral
masters/doctoral
This module provides an introduction to the phenomenology of art and culture. The lectures are grounded in the philosophical tradition that aims to reveal and understand how meaning is formed through practice, perception, and interpretation. Students will be introduced to the methods and approaches of phenomenology, with a particular focus on visual arts and cultures. Here, phenomenology is not presented as a rigid theoretical system, but rather as a reflective process that encourages us both to recognise and to participate in the creation of meaning from a variety of perspectives.
Teaching and learning methods: The course is lecture-based, supplemented by live discussions. A limited number of tutorials will be scheduled separately in due course.
Methods of assessment and examination: Overall assessment is by written essay at the end of the semester (5000 words excluding quotations and references).
Reading materials: All relevant excerpts are provided for each topic together with the lecture notes. The sources listed for each topic are indicative of the references used (the list is not exhaustive and not all sources are available online).
Indicative topics
(1) Art in Experience: Phenomenon, Truth and Meaning
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962) ‘Preface’, Phenomenology of Perception
Cipriani, G. (2005) ‘Art and the Paths of Interpretation’, Art in the Making
Cazeaux, C. ed. (2011) ‘Phenomenology and Hermeneutics, Introduction’, The Continental Aesthetics Reader
(2) Ontology of Art: Origin and Disclosure
Crowther, P. (2013) ‘Truth in Art: Heidegger against Contextualism’, in Phenomenologies of Art and Vision, 45-60
Heidegger, M. (2012) ‘The origin of the Work of Art’, in The Bloomsbury Anthology of Aesthetics, 376-402.
Hutchings, P. (2012) ‘“The Origin of the Work of Art”: Heidegger’, Sophia 51
(3) Perception in Art: Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Johnson, G.A. (1993) The Merleau-Ponty Aesthetics Reader: Philosophy and Painting
Crowther, P. (2013) ‘Vision in Being: Merleau-Ponty and the Depths of Painting’, Phenomenologies of Art and Vision
Cipriani, G. (2008) ‘Merleau-Ponty, Cézanne, and the Basho of the Visible’, Merleau-Ponty and Buddhism
(4) Art and Ethics: Availability, Creativity, Appeal
Marcel, G., (2002 [1940]) ‘Creative fidelity’, Creative Fidelity
Bullnow, O.F. (1991) ‘Marcel’s Concept of Availability’, The Philosophy of Gabriel Marcel
Cipriani, G. (2004) ‘The Art of Renewal and Consideration: Marcelian Reflections’, Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia
(5) Philosophy of the Unseen: Appearing, Art, Gift
Merleau-Ponty, M. (2000) ‘The Intertwining – The Chiasm’, The Continental Aesthetics Reader
Marion, J.L. (2004 [2004]) The Crossing of the Visible
Cipriani, G. (2016) ‘The Visible that “Means” and the Boundless Universe: An Ethical Phenomenology of Aesthetic Experience'’, JTLA, Journal of the Faculty of Letters of The University of Tokyo
(6) Phenomenology of the Still-Life
Heidegger, M. (1998) ‘On the Essence and Concept of Phúsis’, Pathmarks
Brogan, W.A. (2005) ‘The Doubling of Phusis: Aristotle’s View of Nature’, Heidegger and Aristotle : The Twofoldness of Being
Cipriani, G. (2004) ‘The Calm Movement of Phúsis Revealed – Representation and Presencing in the Still Life’, Seijo Journal of Aesthetics and Art History
(7) The Moving Mind-Art: A Poststructuralist Account of Imagery
Deleuze, G. (1981 [2005]) Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation
Stivale, C. (2005) Gilles Deleuze: Key Concepts
Cipriani, G. ‘The Deconstructed Deconstructing Subject: Postmodern Ethos or Incarnate Fidelity?’, Synthesis Philosophica
(8) Deconstruction: Restitution, Authenticity, Reproduction
Derrida, J. (2012) ‘Restitutions’, in The Bloomsbury Anthology of Aesthetics
Schapiro, M. (2012) ‘The Still Life as a Personal Object – A Note on Heidegger and Van Gogh’, The Bloomsbury Anthology of Aesthetics
Wills, D. (2002) ‘Derrida and aesthetics: Lemming (reframing the abyss)’, Jacques Derrida and the Humanities : A Critical Reader
(9) Digital Art and Culture: Ethics, Reality and Truth
Heidegger, M. (1977 [1954]) The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays
Cipriani, G. (2020) ‘The Ethics of Relation in the New Modernity of Digital Art and Culture’
Böhme, G. (2012) ‘The technification of human relations’, Invasive Technification : Critical Essays in the Philosophy of Technology
(10) The Fate of Postmodern Culture
McGuigan, J. (2006) Modernity and Postmodern Culture Lyotard, J.-F. (1984 [1979]) The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge Cipriani, G. (2020) ‘The Self-Overcoming of (Western) Postmodern Aesthetics’, ESPES The Slovak Journal of Aesthetics