Aesthetics: art and anti-art
Course
In London
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iStudy
Course Online£ 27 -
Open Learning College
Course Distance Learning£ 400 £ 518 -
Tate Britain
Course London / Classroom-basedPrice on request -
Ancient Egyptian Courses
Course Distance Learning£ 150 VAT inc. -
Goldsmiths, University of London
Course London / Classroom-basedPrice on request -
UK Open Learning
Course Distance Learning£ 330 VAT inc. -
University of York
PhD Distance LearningPrice on request
Description
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Type
Course
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Location
London
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Start date
Different dates available
The course explores two questions that are central to aesthetics: (1) Does it make sense to argue about
whether someone ought to like something (a painting, a poem, a film, etc.) or is it all a matter of personal
taste? (2) Is there any real difference between high-brow and low-brow art, or more generally between art and
‘mere’ entertainment? The course starts by looking at philosophical answers to these questions, then moves
on to anthropological and sociological theories of taste and art.
Facilities
Location
Start date
Start date
About this course
- Identify problems that arise in distinguishing judgments of taste from other sorts of judgments
- Identify problems that arise in attempting to define art
- Distinguish between philosophical and anthropological/sociological theories of taste and art
- Distinguish between the theories examined on the course.
All course materials will be provided by the tutor or available free of charge online.
There will be a mix of lecture-style presentations and structured discussion activities.
Reviews
Subjects
- Art
- Aesthetics
Course programme
We will be discussing the theories of Immanuel Kant, Alfred Gell, Pierre Bourdieu, Theodor Adorno, and Hans Gadamer. These theories all address questions that are raised in and by modernist and postmodernist art: How do artworks differ (if they do) from ordinary artefacts? Does art have a function, or is the point of art that it has no function at all? Does the artist have a role in society, or are artists basically drop outs? Should art provoke thought, so as to challenge our assumptions about ourselves and conventional social life? Or is it wrong to burden art and artists with purpose?
Additional information
Aesthetics: art and anti-art
-
iStudy
Course Online£ 27 -
Open Learning College
Course Distance Learning£ 400 £ 518 -
Tate Britain
Course London / Classroom-basedPrice on request -
Ancient Egyptian Courses
Course Distance Learning£ 150 VAT inc. -
Goldsmiths, University of London
Course London / Classroom-basedPrice on request -
UK Open Learning
Course Distance Learning£ 330 VAT inc. -
University of York
PhD Distance LearningPrice on request