Beauty: Art and Evil (Aesthetics)

What is art for? Two dominant schools of thought exist today: art has a moral or political function; or art is purposeless – art exists for the sake of art, it has a kind of 'purposiveness without purpose' as Kant would say. This course investigates the possible political function of art, by looking at it from three perspectives (liberal, Marxist, fascist).

We will examine the views that:

• certain art makes us better citizens (held by liberal thinkers from Adam Smith to Martha Nussbaum and Elaine Scarry)
• certain art makes us better revolutionaries (held by Marxists from György Lukács and Bertolt Brecht)
• certain art makes us more obedient subjects (held by members of the Frankfurt School, and a central part of the aesthetics of power, used in fascist regimes)

We will also examine critiques of each of these perspectives, critiques based on:

• the role of form, as opposed to content
• the role of open-ended aesthetic judgment
• the role of aesthetic autonomy

This course will encourage you to think about where you stand on these central questions.body { font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial } table { font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial }

After completing the course, you will be able to:

• Gain an overview of practical philosophical issues in aesthetics, and aesthetic issues in ethical and political practices.
• Use that overview to analyze positions and discuss them with others.
• Apply your substantive insight to interpreting and critiquing contemporary art and/or politics.
• Take your own philosophical position on the topics covered in the course and defend it clearly and convincingly

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This course involves a lot of writing. Experience with philosophical writing is required.

No prior knowledge of the subject matter is required. However, some prior knowledge of political philosophy and aesthetics will be to your advantage.

• Yet to be specified