PHIL 350T(S) Beauty (W)
Until modernity, there was widespread agreement among philosophers that beauty is the fundamental aesthetic value, that beauty is real, and that beauty is present in nature as well as in works of art. Since the 17th century, these traditional views have weakened. Increasingly many artistic and aesthetic values have been distinguished from beauty (these include sublimity and ugliness), all such values are often deemed to be subjective-"in the eye of the beholder"-and many philosophers restrict aesthetic values to works of art (or only to experiences of works of art). This tutorial is devoted to an examination of these and related issues: among aesthetic and artistic values, what status should we accord to beauty? To what degree, if any, is beauty (and are, perhaps, other aesthetic values) matters of fact rather than merely of opinion? Is there aesthetic value only in-or is there aesthetic experience only of-works of art? Is there no beauty in nature, or in experiences of nature?
Format: tutorial. Requirements/Method of Evaluation: students will meet as paired. Each week, on the basis of assigned readings, one student in each pair will write and present a paper of 6-8 pages, the other student will respond, and the two will discuss both issues addressed in the paper and other issues from the readings. Criteria for evaluation are quality of papers, quality of presentations, quality of responses, and quality of discussions.
Prerequisites: Philosophy 101 or 102 or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limit: 10 (expected: 10). Preference given to actual and potential philosophy majors.
Tutorial meetings to be arranged. WHITE