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Masaryk University
Faculty of Arts
Department of Art History
Autumn Semester 2020
Anglo-American Philosophy of Art
Code: DU2345 Credits: 4
Academic Session 2020-2021
COURSE OUTLINE
SYNOPSIS
This course explores key topics in the philosophy of art. It focuses on questions that have been at the
forefront of debates in English-language philosophy of art. These include questions such as: How
does one define art? What is aesthetic experience? How do we interpret a work of art? Is art universal
to all cultures? What is the relation between art and morality? How and why do we respond
emotionally to artworks?
The course examines these questions in relation to a wide range of examples, from visual art to music
and literature, but its main focus is on theoretical ideas and as such it is based on close reading of
philosophical texts.
Practical Information
The course co-ordinator is Prof. Matthew Rampley. All queries concerning the organization of the
course are to be directed to me. I can be contacted either by email: rampley@muni.cz or directly at
my office in L62 the Faculty of Arts Building (on Veveří 28).
The course will be taught in English.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
On successful completion of this module, you should be able to:
• Identify the major topics of debate in contemporary Anglo-American philosophy of art
• Summarise and explain in detail the arguments and positions regarding specific topics in the
philosophy of art
• Subject the arguments relating to a particular topic in the philosophy of art to critical
analysis, exploring their strengths and weaknesses
• Identify, summarize and analyse the argument of individual philosophical texts on art
• Demonstrate an ability to communicate your ideas clearly in English
TEACHING METHODS
The course will be taught from 12.00 – 13.30 on Thursdays in K31 in the Faculty of Arts Building on
Veveří 28.
Each session will last for 90 minutes. It will consist of an informal lecture / discussion. In addition, all
students will be required to give a short (15-minute) presentation on a topic. You will receive informal
written feedback on your presentation. This will not contribute towards the overall mark for this
course. It is merely meant as advisory.
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ASSESSMENT AND ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
The course will be assessed on the basis of an essay of 7-10 sides of A4 (1800 characters per page).
The deadline for submission will be Monday 21st
January
The course will be marked on a pass / fail basis. However, you will be also be given a grade from A to
E, to indicate how well your essay met the following criteria:
1. Research: is the essay well researched and are its claims based on appropriate use of sources?
2. Analysis: does the essay undertake an appropriate critical appraisal of the written primary and
secondary source material?
3. Argument: does the essay present a clearly constructed argument, with a conclusion?
4. Relevance: are the material selected and the arguments used relevant to the topic of the
essay question and to the course as a whole?
5. Language: is the essay written in clear and correct English?
MODULE SCHEDULE
8th
October Introduction and definitions: what is art? what is a work of art?
22nd
October Aesthetic experience: what is it and what is its relevance to art?
29th
October Morality: should we judge works of art morally?
5th
November Interpretation: retrieval or construction?
12th
November Ontology: fakes, copies, restorations: how do we judge them
aesthetically?
19th
November Truth and beauty: in what sense does art convey truths about the
world?
26th
November Emotions: why do we respond emotionally to works of art?
3rd
December Is art universal to all humans?
10th
December The aesthetic animal: how is our sense of beauty related to our
biology?
7th
January What is the difference between erotic art and pornography?
14th
January The end of art: what does it mean to talk of the end of art?
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GENERAL READING
You should find the following general books useful as an introduction to the topic. There are copies in
the library but you can also buy cheap second-hand copies online from abebooks, bookfinder.com or
amazon.
• Noel Carroll, Philosophy of Art: A Contemporary Introduction (London, 1999)
• Richard Eldridge, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Art (Cambridge, 2005)
• Peter Lamarque and Stein Haugom Olsen, eds, Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art: The
Analytic Tradition (Oxford, 2004, 2019)
• Nigel Warburton, The Art Question (London, 2002)
During your reading you may encounter unfamiliar terms and concepts. You are strongly advised to
consult the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html). This is an
invaluable resource of readable and authoritative articles. They also have very useful lists of further
reading.
INTRODUCTION AND DEFINITIONS: WHAT IS ART? WHAT IS A WORK OF ART?
• Noel Carroll, ‘Art and Form’ and ‘Art, Definition and Identitication’ in Carroll, Philosophy of Art
(London, 1999) pp. 107-154 and 205-268.
• Stephen Davies, ‘Definitions of Art’ in Berys Gaut and Dominic Lopes, eds, The Routledge
Companion to Aesthetics (London, 2000) pp. 213-23.
• George Dickie, ‘The New Institutional Theory of Art’ in Peter Lamarque and Stein Olsen, eds,
Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art: The Analytic Tradition (Oxford, 2019) pp. 15-21.
• Gary Hagberg. ‘The Institutional Theory of Art: Theory and Antitheory’ in Paul Smith &
Carolyn Wilde, eds., A Companion to Art Theory (Oxford, 2002) pp. 487-504
• Jerrold Levinson, ‘Defining Art Historically,’ British Journal of Aesthetics 19 (1979) pp. 232-50
• Derek Matravers, ‘What is art? Yves Klein’s Anthropometries’ in Matravers, Introducing
Philosophy of Art (London, 2014) pp. 11-30.
• Robert Stecker, ‘Definition of Art,’ in Jerrold Levinson, ed, The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics
(Oxford, 2003) pp. 136-54
• Nigel Warburton, ‘Significant Form’ and ‘Institutional Contexts’ in The Art Question (London,
2002) pp. 9-35 and 87-120.
AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE: WHAT IS IT AND WHAT IS ITS RELEVANCE TO ART?
• Malcolm Budd, ‘Aesthetics of Nature,’ in Jerrold Levinson, ed, The Oxford Handbook of
Aesthetics (Oxford, 2003) pp. 117-35
• David Davies, ‘Categories of Art’ in Berys Gaut and Dominic Lopes, eds, The Routledge
Companion to Aesthetics (London, 2000) pp. 224-34.
• Marcia Mulder Eaton, ‘Art and the Aesthetic,’ in Peter Kivy, ed., The Blackwell Guide to
Aesthetics (Oxford, 2004) pp. 63-77
• Ronald Hepburn, ‘Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature,’ British Journal of Aesthetics, 3.3 (1963)
pp. 195-209
• Gary Iseminger, ‘Aesthetic Experience,’ in Jerold Levinson, ed, The Oxford Handbook of
Aesthetics (Oxford, 2003) pp. 99-116
• Peter Lamarque, ‘The Uselessness of Art,’ Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 68.3 (2010)
pp. 205-14
• Richard Shusterman, ‘Aesthetic Experience: from Analysis to Eros,’ Journal of Aesthetics and
Art Criticism, 64.2 (Spring, 2006) pp. 217-229
• Kendall Walton, ‘Categories of Art,’ in Peter Lamarque and Stein Olsen, eds, Aesthetics and
the Philosophy of Art: The Analytic Tradition (Oxford, 2019) pp. 134-48.
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• Nick Zangwill, ‘Beauty,’ in Jerrold Levinson, ed, The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics (Oxford,
2003) pp. 325-43
MORALITY: SHOULD WE JUDGE WORKS OF ART MORALLY?
• Richard Eldridge, ‘Art and Morality,’ in Eldridge, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Art
(Cambridge, 2010) pp. 225-52
• Noel Carroll, ‘Moderate Moralism,’ in Carroll, Beyond Aesthetics: Philosophical
Essays (Cambridge, 2001) pp. 293-305.
• Berys Gaut, ‘The ethical criticism of art,’ in Jerome Levinson, ed., Aesthetics and Ethics: Essays
at the Intersection (Cambridge, 2008) pp. 182-203
• Matthew Kieran, ‘Art and Morality’ in Jerrold Levinson, ed., The Oxford Handook of Aesthetics
(Oxford, 2003) pp. 451-70.
• Matthew Kieran, ‘Art and Morality,’ in Kieran, Revealing Art: Why Art Matters (London, 2005)
pp. 148-204
• Derek Matravers, ‘Art and morality’ in Matravers, Introducing Philosophy of Art (London, 2014)
pp. 137-53.
• Elisabeth Schellekens, ‘Art as a Source of Understanding’ in Schellekens, Aesthetics & Morality
(London, 2007) 45-62.
INTERPRETATION: RETRIEVAL OR CONSTRUCTION?
• Gregory Currie, ‘Interpretation in Art,’ in Peter Kivy, ed., The Oxford Handbook to Aesthetics
(Oxfiord, 2003) pp. 291-306
• Noel Carroll, 'Art, Intention and Conversation,' in Carroll, Beyond Aesthetics: Philosophical
Essays (Cambridge, 2001) pp. 157-80. See, too, 'Anglo-American Aesthetics and
Contemporary Criticism: Intention and the Hermeneutics of Suspicion' (pp. 180-90).
• Stephen Davies, ‘True Interpretations,’ Philosophy and Literature 12 (1988) pp. 290–7.
• Frank Sibley, ‘Aesthetic Concepts,’ in Peter Lamarque and Stein Olsen, eds, Aesthetics and the
Philosophy of Art: The Analytic Tradition (Oxford, 2019) pp. 121-33
• (see also the essay by Colin Lyas, ‘Sibley’ in Gaut and Lopes, eds, The Routledge Companion to
Aesthetics, pp. 190-98).
• Robert Stecker, ‘Interpretation and the Problem of Relevant Intention,’ in Matthew Kieran,
ed., Contemporary Debates in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art (Oxford, 2006) pp. 269-81.
• Robert Stecker, ‘Interpretation,’ in Berys Gaut and Dominic McIver Lopes, eds, The Routledge
Companion to Aesthetics (London, 2001) pp. 239-52
• Laurent Stern, ‘Interpretation in Aesthetics,’ in Peter Kivy, ed., The Blackwell Guide to
Aesthetics (Oxford, 2004) pp. 109-25
• W. K. Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley, ‘The Intentional Fallacy,’ Sewanee Review 43.3 (1946)
pp. 468-88
ONTOLOGY: FORGERIES, COPIES, RESTORATIONS
• Walter Benjamin, 'The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility,' in
Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility and Other Writings ed.
Michael Jennings (Cambridge, MA, 2008) pp. 19-55
• Ross Bowden, ‘What’s Wrong with an Art Forgery? An Anthropological Perspective,’ Journal of
Aesthetics and Art Criticism 57.3 (1999) pp. 333-43
• Arthur Danto, ‘Restoration and Meaning’ in Danto, What art is (London and New Haven, 2013)
pp. 53-75.
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• Stephen Davies, ‘Ontology of Art,’ in Jerome Levinson, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics
(Oxford, 2003) pp. 155-80
• Rafael De Clercq, ‘Metaphysics of Art Restoration,’ British Journal of Aesthetics 53.3 (2013) pp.
261-75
• Denis Dutton, ‘Authenticity and Art,’ in Jerome Levinson, ed., Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics
(Oxford, 2009) pp. 258-74
• Gordon Graham, ‘Aesthetic Empiricism and the Challenge of Fakes and Ready-mades’ in
Matthew Kieran, ed., Contemporary Debates in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art (Oxford,
2006) pp. 11-21
• Alfred Lessing, ‘What’s Wrong with a Forgery?’ The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 23.4
(1965) pp. 461-71
• Derek Matravers, ‘Forgeries, copies and variations’ in Matravers, Introducing Philosophy of Art
(London, 2014) pp. 67-84.
• Jack Meiland, ‘Originals, Copies and Aesthetic Value’ in Peter Lamarque and Stein Olsen, eds,
Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art: The Analytic Tradition (Oxford, 2019) pp. 229-35.
TRUTH AND BEAUTY: IN WHAT SENSE DOES ART CONVEY TRUTHS ABOUT THE WORLD?
• Cynthia Freeland, ‘Art and Moral Knowledge’ in Peter Lamarque and Stein Olsen, eds,
Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art: The Analytic Tradition (Oxford, 2019) pp. 295-309
• Berys Gaut, ‘Art and Knowledge,’ in Jerome Levinson, ed., Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics
(Oxford, 2009) pp. 436-50
• Gordon Graham, ‘Art and Knowledge,’ in Graham, Philosophy of the Arts: An Introduction to
Aesthetics (London, 2005) pp. 52-75
• Eileen John, ‘Reading Fiction and Conceptual Knowledge,’ Journal of Aesthetics and Art
Criticism 56 (1998) pp. 331-48
• Eileen John, ‘Art and Knowledge,’ in Berys Gaut and Dominic McIver Lopes, eds., The
Routledge Companion to Aesthetics (London, 2001) pp. 329-40
• Matthew Kieran, ‘Insight in Art,’ in Kieran, Revealing Art: Why Art Matters (London, 2005) pp.
99-147
• Richard Miller, ‘Truth in Beauty,’ American Philosophical Quarterly 16 (1979) pp. 317-25
• Jerome Stolnitz, ‘On the Cognitive Triviality of Art,’ British Journal of Aesthetics 32 (1992) pp.
191-200.
• Kenneth Walden, ‘Art and Moral Revolution,’ Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 73.3 (2015)
pp. 283-95
EMOTIONS: WHY DO WE RESPOND EMOTIONALLY TO WORKS OF ART?
• James Elkins, Pictures and Tears: A History of People Who Have Cried In Front of Paintings
(New York, 2001)
• Susan Feagin, ‘The Pleasures of Tragedy,’ American Philosophical Quarterly 20.1 (1983) pp. 95-
104
• Gordon Graham, ‘Art and Emotion,’ in Graham, Philosophy of the Arts: An Introduction to
Aesthetics (London, 1997) pp. 31-51
• Mark Jefferson, ‘What’s Wrong with Sentimentality?’ Mind 93.368 (1983) pp. 519-29
• Richard Joyce, ‘Rational Fear of Monsters,’ British Journal of Aesthetics 40.2 (2000) pp. 209-24.
• Peter Lamarque, ‘How can we fear and pity fictions,’ in Peter Lamarque and Stein Haugom
Olsen, eds., Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art: The Analytic Tradition (Oxford, 2019) pp. 328-
36
• Mary Midgley, ‘Brutality and Sentimentality,’ Philosophy 54 (1979) pp. 385-9.
• Alex Neill, ‘Art and Emotion,’ in Jerome Levinson, ed., Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics (Oxford,
2009) pp. 421-35
• Anthony Savile, ‘Sentimentality,’ in Alex Neill and Aaron Ridley, eds, Arguing about Art:
Contemporary Philosophical Debates (New York, 1995) pp. 223-7
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• Robert Solomon, ‘In Defense of Sentimentality,’ Philosophy and Literature 14.2 (1990) pp. 304-
23
IS ART UNIVERSAL TO ALL HUMANS?
• Rowland Abiodun, ‘African Aesthetics,’ The Journal of Aesthetic Education 35.4 (2001) pp. 15-
23
• Richard L. Anderson, Art in Primitive Societies (New York, 1979). See in particular: ‘Art: CrossCultural
Perspectives’ (pp. 194-205)
• H. Gene Blocker, “Non-Western Aesthetics as a Colonial Invention,” Journal of Aesthetic
Education, 35.4 (2001), 3-13
• Noel Carroll, ‘Art and Human Nature,’ The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 62.2 (2004)
pp. 95-107
• Stephen Davies, ‘Non-Western Art and Art’s Definition,’ in Noel Carroll, ed, Theories of Art
Today (Madison, 2000) pp. 199-216
• Denis Dutton, ‘Aesthetic Universals,’ in Berys Gaut and Dominic McIver Lopes, eds, The
Routledge Companion to Aesthetics (London, 2001) pp. 203-14
• Denis Dutton, ‘But They Don’t Have Our Concept of Art,’ in Noel Carroll, ed, Theories of Art
Today (Madison, 2000) pp. 199-216.
• Kathleen Higgins, ‘Comparative Aesthetics,’ in Jerome Levinson, ed., Oxford Handbook of
Aesthetics (Oxford, 2009) pp. 679-9
• Julius Moravcsik, ‘Why Philosophy of Art in Cross-Cultural Perspective?’ Journal of Aesthetics
and Art Criticism 51.3 (1993) pp. 425-35
• Ben-Ami Scharfstein, ‘The Common Humanity Evident in European, African, Indian, Chinese
and Japanese Aesthetic Theory,’ in Kitty Zijlmans and Wilfried van Damme, eds, World Art
Studies (Amsterdam, 2008) pp. 343-67
THE AESTHETIC ANIMAL: HOW IS OUR SENSE OF BEAUTY RELATED TO OUR BIOLOGY?
• Gianluca Consoli, ‘The Emergence of the Modern Mind: An Evolutionary Perspective on
Aesthetic Experience,’ Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 72.1 (2014) pp. 37-55
• Stephen Davies, ‘How might the aesthetic, art and evolution be related?’ in Davies, The Artful
Species (Oxford, 2012) pp. 45-64.
• Ellen Dissanayake, ‘The Arts after Darwin: Does Art Have an Origin and Adaptive Function?’ in
Kitty Zijlmans and Wilfried van Damme, eds, World Art Studies (Amsterdam, 2008) pp. 241-63
• Denis Dutton, ‘Aesthetics and Evolutionary Psychology,’ in Jerrold Levinson, ed, The Oxford
Handbook of Aesthetics (Oxford, 2003) p. 693-705
• Denis Dutton, The Art Instinct (London, 2009)
• Bernd Heinrich, “The Biological Roots of Aesthetics and Art,” Evolutionary Psychology, 11.3
(2013) 743-61.
• Matthew Rampley, ‘Art, Biology and the Aesthetics of Selection’ in Rampley, The Seductions of
Darwin (University Park, PA, 2017) pp. 16-43.
• Eveline Seghers, ‘The Artful Mind: A Critical Review of the Evolutionary Psychological Study of
Art,’ British Journal of Aesthetics 55.2 (2016) pp. 225-48
• Wolfgang Welsch, ‘Animal Aesthetics,’ Contemporary Aesthetics 2 (2004). Available online at:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/ca/7523862.0002.015/--animal-aesthetics?rgn=main;view=fulltext
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EROTIC ART AND PORNOGRAPHY?
• Matthew Kieran, ‘Pornographic Art,’ Philosophy and Literature 25.1 (2001) pp. 31-45
• Matthew Kieran, ‘On Obscenity: The Thrill and Repulsion of the Morally Prohibited,’
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 64.1 (2002), pp. 31-55
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• Jerome Levinson, ‘Erotic Art and Pornographic Pictures,’ Philosophy and Literature 33.10
(2005) pp. 228-40
• Hans Maes, ‘Who Says Pornography Can’t be Art?’ in Maes and Jerome Levinson, eds., Art and
Pornography: Philosophical Essays (Oxford, 2015) pp. 17-43
• Martha Nussbaum, ‘Objectification,’ Philosophy & Public Affairs, 24.4 (1995) pp. 249-291
• Michael Rea, ‘What is Pornography?’ Noûs, 35.1 (2001) pp. 118-145
• Roger Scruton, ‘Flesh from the Butcher: How to Distinguish Eroticism from Pornography,’ The
Times Literary Supplement, 5234 (April 15, 2005) pp. 11-13 [See also the review: Martha
Nussbaum, ‘Sex in the Head,’ in Nussbaum, Philosophical Interventions: Reviews 1986-2011
(Oxford, 2012) pp. 28-35]
THE END OF ART: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO TALK OF THE END OF ART?
• Hans Belting, The End of Art History, trans. Christopher Wood (Chicago, 1987). There is also a
Czech edition in the library: Konec dějin umění (Prague, 2000).
• David Carrier, ‘Warhol, Danto and the End of Art History,’ ArtUS (2009) pp. 92-98
• Noel Carroll, ‘The End of Art?’ in History and Theory 37.4 (1998) pp. 17-29
• Arthur Danto, ‘The End of Art: A Philosophical Defense’ in History and Theory 37.4 (1998) pp.
127-43
• Arthur Danto, ‘Modern, Postmodern and Contemporary’ and ‘Three decades after the end of
art’ in Danto, After the End of Art (Princeton, 1997) pp. 3-20 and 21-40.
• Owen Hulatt, ‘Hegel, Danto, Adorno and the End and after of Art,’ British Journal of Aesthetics
24.4 (2016) pp. 742-63.
• Gyorgy Markus, ‘Hegel and the End of Art,’ Literature and Aesthetics 6 (1996) pp. 7-26
• Cecilia Samuel, ‘The End of Art and its Wake’ in International Journal of Arts Theory & History ,
Vol. 13.2 (2018) pp. 11-18.
• Robert Wicks, ‘Hegel’s Aesthetics: An Overview’ in Frederick Beiser, ed., The Cambridge
Companion to Hegel (Cambridge, 1993) pp. 348-77.