Philosophy of expression syllabus

Course Content: We shall focus on a classic of 20^th-century European aesthetics—The Phenomenology of Aesthetic Experience by Mikel Dufrenne—and on Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The course goals are to strengthen participants’ capacity to understand and interact with phenomenology and aesthetics and to develop authenticity and aesthetic experience in dialogue with the text. The objectives are to analyze and discuss selected passages, concepts, and problems in the text (tested by responses in writing and class discussion to study questions) and to apply one’s own version of ideals of authenticity and aesthetic experience in daily life (tested by the project experience reports).

Text: The Phenomenology of Aesthetic Experience, Mikel Dufrenne, ISBN: 0810105918.

Expectations and bases for evaluation.

1. The first responsibility is participation: We are a community of inquiry, so come to class regularly, on time, having done the reading, typed up your response to any study questions, and otherwise ready for discussion. Missing more than six days may affect your grade, and how can I pass you if miss a month? 20%

2. There are two papers, 30% each. The quality of written English—such an important and often neglected part of your education!—is a significant part of the grade on the papers (poor English can reduce the grade one letter, and very poor English earns the paper a D+ max). Late assignments may receive a 10% penalty. Please see the instructor if you have reason to request an alternative to any assignment.

3. There are two quizzes, a midterm and a final, 10 % each, to hold you accountable for a reasonable level of detail. You will see sample questions prior to the midterm.

My office hours are MWF 9:40-9:50 and 10:50-11:20, and TR 10:45-10:55 and 12:20-1:50 (Bowman 320H) and by appointment (330-672-0276; e-mail: jwattles@kent.edu).

As the semester progresses, there may be materials put up on this website: http://sites.google.com/a/kent.edu/jwattles. At the moment there is a sprawling document on aesthetics and other things here: http://www.personal.kent.edu/~jwattles/classes.htm.

The official registration deadline for this course is September 12. University policy requires all students to be officially registered in each class they are attending. Students who are not officially registered for a course by published deadlines should not be attending classes and will not receive credit or a grade for the course. Each student must confirm enrollment by checking his/her class schedule (using Student Tools in FlashLine) prior to the deadline indicated. Registration errors must be corrected prior to the deadline.

University policy 3342-3-01.8 deals with the problem of academic dishonesty, cheating, and plagiarism. None of these will be tolerated in this class. The sanctions provided in this policy will be used to deal with any violations. If you have any questions, please read the policy at http://www.kent.edu/policyreg/policydetails.cfm?customel_datapageid_1976529=2037779.

University policy 3342-3-01.3 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content. If you have a documented disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments. Please note, you must first verify your eligibility for these through Student Accessibility Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit www.kent.edu/sas for more information on registration procedures).

University policy requires all students to be officially registered in each class they are attending. Students who are not officially registered for a course by published deadlines should not be attending classes and will not receive credit or a grade for the course. Each student must confirm enrollment by checking his/her class schedule (using Student Tools in FlashLine) prior to the deadline indicated. Registration errors must be corrected prior to the deadline.

The Philosophy Department Grievance Procedure for handling student grievances is in conformity with the Student Academic Complaint Policy and Procedures set down as University Policy 3342-4-16 in the University Policy Register. For information concerning the details of the grievance procedure, please see the Departmental Chairperson.

Schedule of Activities

Monday, August 30. Introductions. The first three weeks are a climb to cruising altitude. Monitor the time you put into the class, and adjustments will be made so that no one is oppressed by the quantity of work. It is understood that everyone has many things to do in addition to this class. Terminological preparation: esse, eidetic, noesis, noema, neutrality modification; phenomenology and metaphysics; in-itself, for-itself.

Wednesday, September 1. In Mikel Dufrenne, The Phenomenology of Aesthetic Experience, read the introductions to the book as a whole and to Parts II-IV (pp. xlv-lxvii; 237f; 333f; and 437-39). Pay particular attention to the theme of authenticity, e.g., on p. 438.

Written exercise.

1. Write your typed, double-spaced, two-page summary of MD’s reasoning regarding beauty on pp. lviii-lxiv.

Friday 3^rd. Read Chapter 1 and do a written exercise. [Note: somewhat parallel in analytic aesthetics is Nelson Goodman’s “When Is Art?”]

1. Study page 16 to discover ways that perception may be said to be inauthentic. Write a one-page summary of the ideals that are implied for an authentic perception of aesthetic objects.

Week 2, Monday 6^th. Labor Day. No classes.

Wednesday 8^th. Read chapter 2, The Work and its Performance, through section 2 (section 3 is only assigned to be read for exposure, not study, except for the main paragraph on p. 44 with its remarks about truth).

1, Write two pages on the problem of relativism as it arises in the Section I discussion of the performing arts (e.g., music, dance, theatre). Specifically, how does the problem of relativism arise (24d), what is at stake, and how does MD propose to solve it (23d-27c)?

2. Listen to a recording of the first movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as authentically as you can, and write two pages about your aesthetic experience.

Friday 10^th. Chapter 3, The Work and its public (47-71).

1. Write a page on the possible ways a reader might interpret the use of religious language in section one as MD speaks of the spectator as performer?

2. How for MD can aesthetic experience, by generating a public, generate a realization of humanity (63ff)? What is the potential of a living common faith, and what is the implication of the lack of such a common faith (70)? Write a two-page response.

3. Study Friedrich Schiller’s poem, Ode to Joy (e-mailed by the instructor), and bring your copy to class.

Week 3, Monday 13^th. Read Chapter 4—The Aesthetic Object amid Other Objects—through p. 114.

1. Recall one or more times when experienced an uplifting aesthetic object and describe your experience(s), making some reference, if possible, to MD’s notion of becoming a work of art (95-96) (two pages).

2. For a Taoist concept of spontaneity (cf. MD, p. 104), read, print out, and bring to class Chuang-tzu’s story of Cook Ting (e-mailed by the instructor).

3. Listen authentically to the second movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and write two pages about the experience.

Wednesday 15^th. Finish your study of Chapter 4.

Discuss the questions central to this book as set forth on p. 122 (in the context of 116-24), stating how these questions arise for MD and why they are important (two pages).

Listen authentically to the third movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and write two pages about the experience.

Friday 17^th. Chapter 5. Aesthetic Object and World.

With the translation of Schiller’s Ode to Joy in hand, listen authentically to the fourth movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and write two pages about the experience.

Week 4, Monday 20.

Wednesday 22^nd.

Friday 24^th. Chapter 6. The Being of the Aesthetic Object (section I, The Doctrines, may be omitted).

Week 5, Monday 27^th. First installment due of the project report on authentic living and aesthetic experience.

Wednesday 29^th. Chapter 7. The Temporal Arts and the Spatial Arts.

Friday October 1. Chapter 8. The Musical Work.

Week 6, Monday 4^th.

Wednesday 6^th. Chapter 9, The Pictorial Work.

Friday 8^th.

Week 7, Monday 11^th. Midterm.

Wednesday 13^th. The Structure of the Work of Art in General

Friday 15^th. Chapter 11, Presence.

Week 8, Monday 18^th. Chapter 12, Representation and Imagination.

Wednesday 20^th.

Friday 22^nd. Chapter 13. Reflection and Feeling in Perception in General

Week 9, Monday 25^th.

Wednesday 27^th. Chapter 14. Feeling and Depth of the Aesthetic Object.

Friday 29^th.

Week 10, Monday November 1.

Wednesday 3^rd.

Friday 5^th. Chapter 15. The Aesthetic Attitude.

Week 11, Monday 8^th.

Wednesday 10^th.

Friday 12^th. Chapter 16, The Affective Apriori.

Week 12, Monday 15^th.

Wednesday 17^th. Chapter 17. A Priori Knowledge of the Affective A Priori and the Possibility of a Pure Aesthetics.

Friday 19^th.

Week 13, Monday 22^nd. Second installment due on the project report on authentic living and aesthetic experience.

Week 14. Monday 29^th. Chapter 18. The Truth of the Aesthetic Object.

Wednesday December 1.

Friday 3^rd.

Week 15, Monday 6^th. Chapter 19. The Ontological Significance of Aesthetic Experience.

Wednesday 8^th.

Friday 10^th.

Final examination, Monday, December 13, 10:15-12:30.