PHIL 652 Phenomenological Aesthetics
The course offers a presentation of some key figures and seminal texts dealing with phenomenological studies of aesthetics and philosophy of art. Since its beginning as a philosophical tradition, phenomenology has always had a privileged relation with the field of aesthetics. Phenomenology and art share a special attention to appearances and phenomena, and try to suspend our usual gaze on the surrounding world in order to grasp its truth through observation and description. The course will address questions such as: the ontology of artworks, the status of images, imagination and creativity, the features of aesthetic experience, pre-predicative truth, artistic beauty and artistic values, the role of phenomenology within post-Kantian aesthetics. The course will also be an occasion to familiarize oneself with the basic concepts of phenomenology through their use in applied analyses. Readings will include texts from phenomenologists such as: Husserl, Ingarden, Von Hildebrand, Geiger, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Heidegger, Dufrenne and others.