PHIL 271: Aesthetics – Assignment #1 - Homepage Usask

(Section 01, T1, 2011)
PHIL 271: Aesthetics – Assignment #1
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Due: October 5, 2011
Weight: 30% of final grade
Length: about 5-7 pp. (1200-1700 words)
Overview
Address ONE of the following topics in an argumentative essay (i.e., an essay which makes one
or more specific claims, supported by reasons). Your essay should be typed, double-spaced,
paginated, free from grammar and spelling errors and, in general, as well-written as you can
make it.
This assignment is mainly intended to help you solidify your grasp of the classical aesthetic
theories that we have been discussing in the first few weeks of the course. Accordingly, your work
will be evaluated mainly in terms of how well you explain and examine those theories in their own
terms. (The next assignment will open up wider possibilities, such as comparing or synthesizing
different theories or theorizing from your own experience.) That said, the topics below may be
interpreted fairly loosely: It is more important to formulate a good, probative thesis than it is to
address every aspect of the question as stated.
In keeping with this aim, your essay should mainly draw on the assigned texts, though references
to other sources are permissible. Proper references should be included for any text or artwork
that you cite in your essay (see the class web site for guidance on documentation formats). It
goes without saying that the rules about academic honesty mentioned in the syllabus apply to this
assignment also.
Please bear in mind that, as the philosopher Geoffrey Payzant once said, “if the writing of your
essay is not a kind intellectual adventure for you, the reading of it will be a dull chore for me; the
essay will be a waste of your time and mine.” Feel free to be creative, to be bold (so long as you
do actually offer an argument).
Topics
1) Some aesthetic theorists (Bell, Plato and possibly Aristotle among them) suggest that if
painting, film, sculpture, literature, etc., are all classed as art, then there must be some
common property or set of properties definitive of art which they all share and in virtue of
which they are art. Either a) evaluate this claim by offering reasons for thinking that it is
true or false or (if you think it is true), b) discuss what property (or set of properties) is or
ought to be definitive of art.
2) The ancient Greeks, we are told, did not conceptualize art as something distinct from
ordinary making, but instead thought of art simply as technē or skilled craft. Is this, in
your view, a useful way to think about what we now call “art”? You may find it helpful to
distinguish between artifacts and tools. Specifically, do artworks function as tools (i.e.,
tools used to provoke a certain kind of response) or does their value lie in their value as
artifacts?
…over

3) According to Plato, art is (or can become) dangerous. Discuss Plato’s arguments in the
Republic for controlling the work of imitative artists in and, in some cases, banishing them
from the ideal political community. Are these arguments persuasive? Do Plato’s
arguments for the control and censorship of art have any relevance in the present? In
constructing your account, you may wish to make reference to some of the controversial
artworks discussed in Freeland (especially in chapters 1 and 4) or other similar works.
4) Aristotle claims that “poetry…is a higher, more philosophical thing than history: for poetry
tends to express the universal, history the particular.” Discuss this claim. Is it true? If it is
true, is it generally true of all poetry (or, for that matter, all history) or are there
exceptions? What significance, if any, does this claim have for how we ought to
understand and evaluate artworks? By way of comparison, you may wish to make
reference to the ritual theory of art discussed in Freeland (chapter 1 and passim) and/or
to Shelley’s Defense of Poetry and/or to Nietzsche.
5) Hume suggests that we will know if our taste is functioning properly if our critical
judgments about art are consistent with the judgments of other nations and ages. Is
Hume’s argument for this claim persuasive? Is it consistent with the rest of Hume’s
theory? Is it consistent with your own experience?
6) When Kant says that genius is a talent for producing that for which no definite rule can be
given, he is implicitly taking up a stand against the imitation theory of art. Discuss Kantian
arguments against the imitation theory.
7) Some aestheticians (e.g., Bell, Bullough, Kant) argue that some degree of
disengagement for our ordinary desires and feelings is required in order to achieve a
genuinely ‘aesthetic’ experience. Discuss and evaluate the idea of disinterestedness
and/or psychical distance.
8) What is Shelley defending poetry against? Is his defense persuasive?
9) Narrative, says Nietzsche, is fable grounded in a conceit, the conceit being that we put
ourselves at the centre of meaning (i.e., at the centre of the story). But this conceit is an
inescapable lie in as much as it is necessary for our survival. Discuss Nietzsche on the
possibility of art and on the possibility of leading an artistic life.