Calendar. The assignments below are approximate and tentative. Sometimes a reading-guide handout will specify the details of an assignment, and it may include passages that are part of your assignment. Boxed dates are dates of tests or default due dates for papers (the latter are links to paper assignments when bold).
| 1/18 | introduction | |
| 1/20 | Plato | imitation and knowledge (HK 30-38, 45-49)—rdng gd—texts: 1up, 2up, 4up |
| 1/22 | mastering appearances and passions (HK 38-45, 49-52)—rdng gd—texts: 1up, 2up, 4up | |
| 1/25 | narrative vs imitation, simplicity of harmony and rhythm (HK 8-29)—rdng gd—texts: 1up, 2up, 4up | |
| 1/27 | Aristotle | poetry, truth, and the emotions (HK 97-100, 106-7, 122-4, 102, 109-12, 137)—rdng gd—texts: 1up, 2up, 4up |
| 1/29 | Walton | “Transparent Pictures: On the Nature of Photographic Realism,” §§1-4, pp. 246-262 (on JSTOR at 1343394)—rdng gd |
| 2/1 | “Transparent Pictures,” §§5-9, pp. 262-273 (on JSTOR at 1343394)—rdng gd | |
| 2/3 | “Listening with Imagination: Is Music Representational?” intro. and §§I-II, pp. 47-55c1 (on JSTOR at 431584)—rdng gd | |
| 2/5 | “Listening with Imagination,” §§III-IV, pp. 55c1-60 (on JSTOR at 431584)—rdng gd | |
| 2/8 | Plato | inspiration and beauty (HK 53-63, 73-7)—rdng gd |
| 2/10 | Plotinus | beauty and the soul (HK 140-50, 165-7)—rdng gd |
| 2/12 | beauty and wisdom (HK 151-64, 168-70)—rdng gd (ppr 1 due) | |
| 2/15 | no class | |
| 2/17 | Augustine | rhythm, beauty, and numerical order (HK 185-202)—rdng gd |
| 2/19 | Danto | “Kalliphobia in Contemporary Art” (on JSTOR at 4134518)—rdng gd |
| 2/22 | Hume | “The Standard of Taste” Hume handout (screen PDF, 2up PDF, booklet PDF)—rdng gd |
| 2/24 | Kant | disinterested pleasure (HK 280-6, 293-301)—rdng gd |
| 2/26 | subjective universality (HK 286-93, 301-4, 312-3)—rdng gd | |
| 2/29 | contesting taste (HK 308, 331-5)—rdng gd | |
| 3/2 | test 1 | |
| 3/4 | Burke & Kant | the sublime Burke-Kant handout (screen PDF, 2up PDF, booklet PDF)—rdng gd |
| spring break | ||
| 3/14 | Kant | genius (HK 313-17, 321-23, 337f)—rdng gd |
| 3/16 | ideals and aesthetic ideas (HK 318-21, 335-7)—rdng gd | |
| 3/18 | Schiller | art, play, and freedom Schiller handout (screen PDF, 2up PDF, booklet PDF)—rdng gd |
| 3/21 | Schelling | resolving an infinite contradiction in a finite product (HK 347, 349, 354-5, 361-74)—rdng gd |
| 3/23 | Hegel | aspiring after and attaining the Ideal (HK 424, 428-33, 437-40)—rdng gd (ppr 2 due) |
| 3/25 | transcending the Ideal (HK 434-6, 440-5)—rdng gd | |
| 3/28 | Danto | “The Artworld,” intro. & §§I-III, pp. 571-581 (on JSTOR at 2022937)—rdng gd |
| 3/30 | “The Artworld,” §IV, pp. 582-584 (on JSTOR at 2022937)—rdng gd | |
| 4/1 | Schopenhauer | art, ideas, and will (HK 448-51, 456-60, 480-2, 486-90, 495)—rdng gd |
| 4/4 | Nietzsche | the discharge of music in pictures (HK 498-504, 514-7, 525-7)—rdng gd |
| 4/6 | aesthetic Socratism wrecks tragedy (HK 539-44, 550-4)—rdng gd | |
| 4/8 | making truth Nietzsche handout (screen PDF, 2up PDF, booklet PDF)—rdng gd | |
| 4/11 | Heidegger | world and earth (HK 662-668, 670-677)—rdng gd |
| 4/13 | truth and rift-design (HK 677-703)—rdng gd | |
| 4/15 | Goodman | “Art and Inquiry” (on JSTOR at 3129263)—rdng gd |
| 4/18 | Tolstoy | art as the communication of emotion Tolstoy handout (screen PDF, 2up PDF, booklet PDF)—rdng gd |
| 4/20 | Croce | intuition & expression vs communication Croce handout (screen PDF, 2up PDF, booklet PDF)—rdng gd (paper 3 due) |
| 4/22 | Greenberg | “Avant-Garde and Kitsch” (online)—rdng gd |
| 4/25 | Benjamin | “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” §§I–V, XII, XIV–XV, epilogue (online)—rdng gd |
| 4/27 | Carroll | “The Ontology of Mass Art,” intro. and §I, pp. 187–192 (on JSTOR at 431263)—rdng gd |
| 4/29 | “The Ontology of Mass Art,” §§II–IV, pp. 192-198 (on JSTOR at 431263)—rdng gd | |
| exam week | ||
| 5/6 | exam | Fri. 9 a.m.: test 2 |