Is art merely entertainment or does it reveal truth? If the latter, what sort of truth (philosophical, religious, political) and how? If it is entertainment, is it a special sort of entertainment- "elevating" us, say, or "purging us" of otherwise dangerous desires-or simply one kind of fun among others? How you answer these questions may affect how you answer some political ones: should the state underwrite the arts? Should it guide ("censor") them? What sort of artistic works should be politically encouraged or discouraged, if any? We will explore these issues through the different philosophical positions on art of Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, and Heidegger, while considering throughout 1) how those positions illuminate such works as Sophocles' Oedipus and Antigone, Joyce's Portrait of an Artist, Brecht's Threepenny Opera, Vermeer, Goya, and Mondrian paintings, Bach's Mass in B Minor, quartets by Beethoven and Schoenberg, Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water, Javanese shadow puppet theater, and Dogon granary doors, and 2) how they bear on such current political controversies as those over Rushdie's Satanic Verses and Serrano's Piss Christ. Readings will include Plato's Symposium, Kant's Critique of Judgment, and Heidegger's "Origin of the Work of Art." Requirements: assignments will consist mostly of papers and a class presentation, but artistic projects-explained philosophically to the class!-are also welcome. No prerequisites.
FLEISCHACKER