AESTHETICS I

Within the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Philosophy, this course aims to introduce students to the main issues of the discipline, to its problems and fundamental authors through the direct reading of some crucial texts. Students are supposed to develop a historical comprehension of some basic aesthetic issues, as well as a critical understanding of their theoretical consequences, also with reference to the most recent debate.
With reference to the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Conservation of Cultural Heritage and Performing Arts Management, this course also aims to develop a historical and theoretical awareness about the use of some concepts such as art, fine arts, art autonomy, artwork, and aesthetic experience, with particular reference to a historical and cultural contextualization of these terms.

Knowledge and understanding: The course's main goal is introducing some basic concepts and thesis characterizing aesthetic philosophy by reading some capital texts constituting this tradition of thought.
Applying knowledge and understanding: At the end of the course, students are supposed to be able to autonomously read the philosophical texts proposed during the lessons, as well as to use some of the basic concepts characterizing this philosophical field with critical awareness. They should be able to reconstruct the reasons supporting the main thesis of the aesthetic tradition.
Making judgments: Students should also acquire the capacity to consider more critically the aesthetic tradition, by means of Gadamer's interpretation of the so-called 'aesthetic culture'. They will learn to evaluate different philosophical positions by means of a confrontation of their basic arguments, and they will develop the communication skills requested for a critical reconstruction of the main aspects of the classical aesthetic debate

This course is designed as an introduction to the reading of the main classical texts of the western aesthetic tradition; hence no particular prerequisite is requested to understand the lessons. However, a general overview of Kant's and Hegel's philosophies will be helpful.

The course will be divided into two parts: a first section will be devoted to the readings of some pages of Kant's, Schiller's and Hegel's texts; a second one will focus on Gadamer's interpretation of these philosophical authors.

A)G.W.F. Hegel, Aesthetics, Oxford University Press,
- Introduction to Aesthetics: Premise and Paragraphs: I.1. Natural and Artistic Beauty, I.2. Refutation of some Objections against Aesthetics
- Introduction to the First Part: Premise and §.2 The Place of Art in relation to Religion and Philosophy
- Introduction to the Second Part

I. Kant, Critique of the Power of Judgment, Cambridge University Press,
the following paragraphs: Introduction (§ IV), 1, 5, 6, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, General note to Analytic First Section, 23, 40, 42, 43, 46, 48, 49

F.Schiller, Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of Man, the following letters: VI-XV and XX-XXIII, XXVI

B) H.G.Gadamer, Truth and Method, selected sections from the First Part of the book

The written test will be composed of 5 open questions concerning the reading of the classical texts of the aesthetic literature provided by the course. The exam will take 2 hours.
The exam will evaluate whether the students have acquired the knowledge delivered in the course, their capacity to give reasons, their ability in communicating the different positions with clarity and pertinence as well as critical awareness.

Frontal lectures with slides.
Direct reading of the texts.

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Students who are registered for the 12 CFU course in Aesthetics are requested to attend the first part of the course with Professor Dreon because Aesthetics II syllabus is designed as a development of the current program.
Students who cannot attend the course, are requested to study the same texts expected for sustaining the written test. As an introduction to the classic literature read during the lessons they can refer to Francesca Menegoni's book, La "Critica del giudizio" di Kant. Introduzione alla lettura, Carocci. For any further suggestions they can directly contact the teacher.
Students are requested to subscribe to the Moodle space of the course as well as to regularly check materials and information they can find there.

Ca' Foscari abides by Italian Law (Law 17/1999; Law 170/2010) regarding support services and accommodation available to students with disabilities. This includes students with mobility, visual, hearing and other disabilities (Law 17/1999), and specific learning impairments (Law 170/2010). If you have a disability or impairment that requires accommodations (i.e., alternate testing, readers, note takers or interpreters) please contact the Disability and Accessibility Offices in Student Services: disabilita@unive.it.

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This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development