This course introduces students to the major questions in the philosophy of art. These include such questions as whether our judgments of what is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ art are objective, what terms like ‘art’, ‘beauty’, ‘creativity’, ‘expression’ and ‘imagination’ might mean, how art could help us to live better lives, whether and how art relates to reality, feeling, society, religion and politics and what differences there are between contemporary, modern and classical kinds of art. Students will develop their own answers to these questions by studying those of important philosophers, from Plato, Kant and Hegel to Nietzsche, Benjamin, Žižek and Deleuze, by relating them to specific artworks and by discussing them extensively in class and in writing.

The course begins with the classical issues and ideas found in Plato’s accounts of love, beauty and art and how these inform eighteenth-century ideals of art appreciation. We will then turn to Kant’s equally rich ideas of imagination, originality and experience and to Hegel’s sophisticated ideas of culture, religion and expression, in each case also exploring how these ideas are later taken up and reformulated by romantic, modern and contemporary artists and philosophers. For further information, see 'Schedule' below.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• understand major issues and arguments in ancient, modern and contemporary philosophy of art;

• evaluate how these issues and arguments illuminate and are illuminated by specific artworks;  

• develop reasoned positions regarding these issues and arguments;

• present, discuss and analyse course material orally and in writing and individually and in groups;

• make appropriate reference to relevant resources and undertake guided research work.

Students will be assessed according to the learning outcomes. Thus threshold (grade C) work will demonstrate a basic understanding of relevant cases, positions and arguments and of relevant theoretical approaches, a familiarity with some relevant readings, some ability to analyze and evaluate this material and the ability to present and discuss it with some clarity. Good (grade B) and excellent (grade A) work will demonstrate a more thorough grasp of the relevant material, more depth and independence of analysis and evaluation and more clarity and precision in presentation and discussion, while poor (grade D) and fail grade (grade F) level work will reveal substantial deficiencies in understanding, analysis and/or presentation.

John Cabot University’s general assessment criteria

A (95%+) and A- (90-94%) work is relatively rare, expected to stand out from the work of other students and:

directly addresses the question or problem raised, provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information, critically evaluates concepts and theory, relates theory to practice, reflects the student’s own argument and is not just a repetition of standard lecture and reference material, is very accurate, has an element of novelty if not originality, provides evidence of reading beyond the required reading and displays an awareness of methodological concerns and displays an awareness of the limitations of current knowledge.

B+ (87-89%) and B (83-86%) grades indicate a highly competent level of performance and:

directly addresses the question or problem raised, provides a coherent argument drawing on relevant information, shows some ability to evaluate concepts and theory and to relate theory to practice, reflects the student’s own argument and is not just a repetition of standard lecture and reference material, does not suffer from any major errors or omissions, provides evidence of reading beyond the required reading and displays an awareness of other approaches to the problem area.

B- (80-82%) or C+ (77-79%) work is an acceptable level of performance and:

addresses the question but provides only a basic outline of relevant arguments and evidence along the lines offered in the lectures and referenced readings, gives answers that are clear but limited and with some minor omissions and inaccuracies, although no major errors.

C (73-76%) or C- (70-72%) work demonstrates some knowledge and an element of understanding, but is weak and:

points made in the answer are not always well supported by argument and evidence, relevant points have been omitted from the answer, there are some errors in the answer, parts of the question remain unanswered and answers may be unduly brief and possibly in note form.

D+ (67-69%), D (63-66%) or D- (60-62%) work does just enough to persuade the instructor that they should not be failed and:

answers lack a coherent grasp of the problems and issues raised in the question, important information has been omitted from the answers and irrelevant points have been included and answers are far too brief.

Fail (below 60%) work fails to convince the instructor that students have benefited from academic study and:

fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question, reveals fundamental misunderstanding of the subject matter and most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.

Course outline

Below are the basic topics of the course, divided by week and part. With the class’ agreement, one or two classes will also be held in galleries, such as the Borghese, Pamphilj and MAXXI, and/or dedicated to visiting speakers.


1. Introduction: What is good and bad art?


I. Truth and illusion: Classical ideas of beauty and art


2. Love, beauty and illusion in Plato

3. Appreciating classical beauty: Hume’s ideal critic, and Lessing and Goethe in Rome


II. Imagination, originality, experience: Kantian themes


4. Kant on the peculiar nature of beauty, and how imagination and genius explain it

5. The sublime: Kant on the immeasurable and terrifying

6. From Kant to romanticism (Schiller, Nietzsche) and modernism (Lyotard, Butler)

7. Exploring pure experience: Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty and Deleuze

8. Review for mid-term assignment


III. Culture, religion, expression: Hegelian themes


9. Hegel on the spirit of classical and Christian art

10. The end of art: Hegel on romantic and modern art

11. Individuality and modern art: Baudelaire, Benjamin and Jameson

12. Psychoanalyzing popular culture: Žižek


IV. Research projects: Truth, emotion, the artist, modern art


13. Presentations of project work

14. Preparation of project assignment


Basic bibliography

Below are the primary readings that you will be expected to study for each class, arranged by week and class. Secondary readings, reproductions of artworks and further materials will be provided on the class website or in class, and full bibliographical details will also be given on the class website.

2. Plato, The Symposium, 201d-212b, and The Republic, 595a-605c

3. Hume, ‘Of the Standard of Taste’
Lessing, Laocoon, chs. 2-3, 14-16 and 20, extracts, Goethe, Italian Journey, ‘Second Rome Visit’, extracts

4. Kant, Critique of the Power of Judgment, §§ 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 15, 16, 22 and 46 

5. Kant, Critique of the Power of Judgment, §§ 24, 25 and 28

6. Schiller, Letters Upon the Aesthetic Education of Man, Twentieth and Twenty-First Letters, Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy, §§ 1-3, 7 and 14
Lyotard, ‘Answering the Question: What is Postmodernism?’, Butler, ‘Gender is Burning’

7. Merleau-Ponty, ‘Cézanne’s Doubt’, Heidegger, ‘The Origin of the Work of Art’
Deleuze, Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation, extracts

9. Hegel, Lectures on Aesthetics, ‘Introduction’, ‘The New Gods of the Classical Ideal’, ‘The Romantic Form of Art’

10. Hegel, Lectures on Aesthetics, ‘The End of the Romantic Form of Art’

11. Baudelaire, ‘The Painter of Modern Life’, Benjamin, ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’, Jameson, ‘Postmodernism and Consumer Society’

12. Žižek, The Sublime Object of Ideology and Looking Awry, extracts