George Wilson
Stonier 113
SYLLABUS: PHIL 445--PHILOSOPHY OF THE ARTS
The course will survey a number of notorious puzzles about several of the arts and our appreciation of them. (It will not be a survey of classical theories of the arts.) Some of these problems are general—some are especially about more limited domain, e.g., literature, the visual arts, and music. The readings will all be made available in a reader—except for the James’ novella that is assigned for the first week. I may add a few papers to this list as we go along.
There are two 10 page papers to be written(as indicated below) and a final examination. The final examination will be determined by the university schedule for final exams. Your course grade will be based on these (each is worth 30% of the grade) and on your participation in class discussion (10% of the grade).
QUESTIONS ABOUT INTERPRETATION
WEEK 1—Jan 9, 11
Henry James, “The Turn of the Screw” (any edition)
WEEK 2—Jan 16 (off), 18,
William Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley, “The Intentional Fallacy”
Susan Sontag, “Against Interpretation”
ON THE NATURE AND VALUE OF ART
WEEK 3—Jan 23, 25
Arthur Danto, “What is Art?”
WEEK 4—Jan 30, Feb 1
Jerome Stolnitz, “On the Cognitive Triviality of Art”
PROBLEMS ABOUT FICTION
WEEK 5—Feb 6, 8
John Searle, “The Logical Status of Fictional Discourse”
WEEK 6—Feb 13, 15
AmieThomasson, “Fictional Characters as Abstract Objects”
METAPHOR AND MEANING
WEEK 7—Feb 20 (off), 22
Donald Davidson, “ What Metaphors Mean”
First paper is due on Feb. 22
THE ONTOLOGY OF THE LITERARY WORK
WEEK 8—Feb 27, 29
Jorge Luis Borges, “Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote”
Gregory Currie, “Work and Text”
AUDIENCE EMOTIONS
WEEK9 —March 5, 7
Colin Radford, “How Can We Be Moved by the Fate of Anna Karenina?”
Kendall Walton, “Fearing Fictionally”
March 12, 14 (Spring Vacation)
PICTORIAL DEPICTION IN THE VISUAL ARTS
WEEK 10—March 19, 21
Kendall Walton, “Pictures and Hobby Horses:Make-believe beyond Childhood”
WEEK 11—March 19, 21
Kendall Walton, “Transparent Pictures”
WEEK 12—March 26, 28
Greg Currie, “Against the Imagined Seeing Thesis”
George Wilson, “Le Grand ImagierSteps Out”
Second paper is due on March 28
MORE ABOUT INTERPRETATION
WEEK 13—April 9, 11
Jerrold Levinson, “Intention and Interpretation”
Alexander Nehamas, “The Postulated Author: Critical Monism as a Regulative Ideal”
HIGH ARTS VS. LOW ARTS?
WEEK 14—April 16, 18
Colin McGinn, “The Power of Movies”
Stephen Davies, “Rock versus Classical Music”
WEEK 15—April 23, 25
Summary and Review
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is taken very seriously at the university. Any and all instances of plagiarism will result in an F for the assignment, the course, and in some cases expulsion from the university. What is plagiarism? It can be something as malicious as copying another essay or as naïve as quoting a source without a citation. If you have any doubts about whether something might constitute plagiarism, please come see me before turning in the final assignment.
Disabilities and Special Needs: Any student in need of accommodations based on a disability should register with Disability Service and Programs (DSP) each semester. Also, please let me know as soon as possible (either in person or via e-mail) if you will need different accommodations for the course.