Theorising Art I: Fundamental Issues in the Theory of Art

Master’s Programme in Curating Art

Stockholm University

Spring 2011

Mikael Pettersson

Office: D 824

Phone: 08-161018

E-mail: mikael.pettersson@philosophy.su.se

Brief Course Description

The objective of this module is to give some basic insight into a number of fundamental issues in the theory and philosophy of art, and into how these issues have been dealt with by some influential philosophers and theorists. Topics that will be taken up include: What is art? What is an artwork? How does art have meaning? What kinds of value attach to art? And what are the relations between art, life and society?

The module consists of seven seminars. Each seminar will be a mix of more lecture-like elements on part of the teacher, short presentations of a particular topic on the part of the students, and general discussion of the issues in question and of the relevant texts.

Literature

The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics, J. Levinson, (ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003

Excerpts from Collingwood, R. G., The Principles of Art; Goodman, Nelson, Languages of Art, Heidegger, Martin, "The Origin of the Work of Art;" Schopenhauer, Arthur, The World as Will and Representation; Wollheim, Richard, Art and Its Objects, and the following articles:

Danto, Arthur, "The Artworld," Journal of Philosophy, 61 (1964), pp. 571-584

Gaskell, Ivan, "Being True to Artists," Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 61 (2003), pp. 53-60

Groys, Boris, "Multiple Authorship," in Art Power, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2008

Hanson, Karen, "How Bad Can Good Art Be?" in Jerrold Levinson (ed.), Aesthetics and Ethics: Essays at the Intersection, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998

Walton, Kendall, "Categories of Art," Philosophical Review, 79 (1970) pp. 334-367

Seminars

I. What is Art? (18.1)

One of the most pressing issues in art theory is, naturally, what art is. This topic has been intensely discussed by theorists of art from Plato, to Bell, to Danto. After a general introduction to the very idea of defining art’s nature, this seminar will primarily be dealing with two influential proposals as to the latter, namely those of Collingwood and Danto.

Readings: Danto; Collingwood, chap VI.

Supplementary readings: Robert Stecker, "Definitions of Art," in OHA. Morris Weitz, "The Role of Theory in Aesthetics," Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 15:1 (1956), pp. 27-35.

II. What is a Work of Art? (25.1)

With a basic understanding of what art might be in place, in this seminar we move on to the issue of what a work of art is. What is the "ontology" of an artwork? That is, where and how does it exist? Is an artwork simply the physical object (or objects) displayed in galleries and museums as a work of art? Or is the viewer, as is sometimes suggested, somehow involved in the creation of an artwork?

Readings: Collingwood, chap VII; Wollheim, pp. 1-34.

Supplementary reading: Stephen Davies, "Ontology of Art," in OHA.

III. Art and Aesthetics (28.1)

For long, art was tightly linked to "the aesthetic," a property which was thought to attach not only to art, but also, for example, to nature. In this seminar we will have a look at precisely what the aesthetic, and its conceptual cousin "the aesthetic attitude" with which we are supposed to grasp the aesthetic, are supposed to be. We will also have a look at some sceptical challenges to the very idea of the aesthetic attitude, and to the idea that the aesthetic is what matters about art.

Readings: Schopenhauer, §§ 33-42; Walton.

Supplementary readings: Gary Iseminger, "Aesthetic Experience," in OHA; Julian Young, "Schopenhauer, Heidegger, Art, and the Will," in Dale Jacquette (ed.), Schopenhauer, Philosophy, and the Arts, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).

IV. Art and Knowledge (1.2)

In the philosophy of art, one successor to the idea that art primarily is a vehicle for the aesthetic has been the idea that art provides knowledge of various kinds. That is to say, in appreciating art we learn about ourselves, our relations to others, and about the world in general. This seminar will be devoted to two advocates of this view, namely Heidegger and Goodman.

Readings: Heidegger; Goodman.

Supplementary readings: Berys Gaut, "Art and Knowledge," in OHA; Julian Young, "Artwork and Sportwork: Heideggerian Reflections," Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 57 (1999), pp. 267-277.

V. How Does Art Mean? (4.2)

Presupposed in the view that art can provide knowledge is the idea that art has meaning. For if art says nothing, it cannot teach us anything. But how does art mean? In this seminar, we will, among other things, have a look at two opposing answers two this question: intentionalism and constructivism. According to (a version of) the former, meaning in art is a matter of what the artist meant. According to (a version of) the latter, meaning is instead "in the eye of the beholder."

Reading: TBA.

Supplementary readings: Greg Currie, "Interpretation in Art," in OHA.

VI. Art, Ethics & Politics (8.2)

Plato famously thought that all art was morally bad, and for a number of reasons. Today, few philosophers would adhere to such a general condemnation of art. But many recent works of art are at least morally questionable, so one pressing issue is – as one of the articles we discuss this seminar asks – How bad can good art be? Of course, there is also the opposite take on the issue: can bad art be better due to its good moral content? Does, for example, the feminist content of some artworks make them better as art? Or is the value of art perhaps totally immune to moral considerations?

Reading: Hanson.

Supplementary readings: Matthew Kieran, "Art and Morality;" Lydia Goehr, "Art and Politics," in OHA.

VII. Implementing Art (11.2)

This seminar will be devoted to various questions about art in context, in particular the curating context. Questions that will be addressed include: How does the context of curating affect art’s meaning? Is the ontological status of artworks affected when they appear as parts of an exhibition? Should curators be "true to artists"?

Readings: Groys; Gaskell.

Supplementary readings: Currie; Paisley Livingston, "Intention in Art," in OHA.

Assignment dead-line: 18.2

Links

Bryan Magee & Frederick Copleston on Schopenhauer (youtube)

Bryan Magee & Hubert Dreyfus on Heidegger et al (youtube)