Wellesley College | Spring 2022
DRAFT, SUBJECT TO CHANGE
In this course, we will examine a broad set of philosophical questions about art. What is art? Why does it matter? Are there objective standards of taste, or is beauty in the eye of the beholder? What is the relationship between aesthetics and ethics? In addition to these general questions, we will consider specific philosophical puzzles posed by other issues in the arts, which may include horror, forgery, authenticity, restoration, cultural appropriation, public sculpture, and street art.
Introduction: Some basic tools for the course.
Foundations 1: Disagreement and Trust
Elizabeth Cantalamessa, "Debating Bon Jovi's cheesiness will enrich your conceptual life" at Psyche (+interview at Polite Conversations)
Thi Nguyen, "The Art Solipsist" at Aesthetics for Birds
Foundations 2: Expertise and Achievement
Dominic McIver Lopes, "Aesthetic Experts, Guides to Value"
Foundations 3: Community and Aesthetic Life
Nick Riggle, "Toward a Communitarian Theory of Aesthetic Value" (+interview at Polite Conversations)
TV and Movies 1: Adaptation
James Harold, "The Value of Fidelity in Adaptation"
TV and Movies 2: The Good in the Bad
Matt Strohl, "Why It's OK to Love Bad Movies" (Chapter 1)
TV and Movies 3: Horror 1
Noël Carroll, “Why Horror?”
TV and Movies 4: Horror 2
Nicholas Whittaker, "Toward a Definition of Black Cinematic Horror"
Ethical Criticism Bridge 1: Ethical Flaws are Aesthetic Flaws
Berys Gaut, "The Ethical Criticism of Art"
Ethical Criticism Bridge 2: Rough Heroes
Adriana Clavel-Vazquez, "Sugar and Spice, and Everything Nice: What Rough Heroines Tell Us about Imaginative Resistance"
Ethical Criticism Bridge 3: Obstacles to Understanding
Paul C. Taylor, "Understanding (mis)understanding: Sally be a lamb"
Literature: Who Can Write about Whom? 1
Joy Shim, "Literary Racial Impersonation"
Literature: Who Can Write about Whom? 2
Zadie Smith, "Fascinated to Presume: In Defense of Fiction"
Literature: Who Can Write about Whom? 3
Zoe Cunliffe, "Narrative Fiction and Epistemic Injustice"
Music 1: Sad Songs
Laura Sizer, "Sad Songs Say So Much: The Paradoxical Pleasures of Sad Music"
Music 2: Subtlety and Heavy-Handedness
Alex King, "The Virtue of Subtlety and the Vice of a Heavy Hand" (+interview at Polite Conversations)
Music 3: Heaviness
Jay Miller, "What Makes Heavy Metal 'Heavy'?"
Music 4: Covers and Mashups
"Cover Me Softly" and "The Cops of Pop" from Barry Lam's Hi-Phi Nation
Museums: Where Does Art Belong? 1
Kwame Anthony Appiah "Whose Culture is it Anyway?"
Museums: Where Does Art Belong? 2 (Class Meets in Davis Museum)
A.W. Eaton and Ivan Gaskell, "Do Subaltern Artifacts Belong in Art Museums?"
Public Art 1: The Monumental
Sandra Shapshay, "What is the Monumental?"
Listen: Oñate’s Foot from 99% Invisible
NO CLASS (Eastern ASA)
Public Art 2: The Political
Sarah Lewis, "Groundwork: Race and Aesthetics in the Era of Stand Your Ground Law"
Expanding the Arts 1
Yuriko Saito, "Japanese Aesthetics of Packaging"
Expanding the Arts 2
Thi Nguyen, "The Arts of Action"
Conclusion