Phenomenology of Art and Culture

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