PHIL 339A: Special Topics in Aesthetics

Winter, 2007

PHIL 339A
Special Topics in Aesthetics:
PHILOSOPHY OF FILM
W 18:00-20:15, H 625
(plus viewing sessions immediately following the class)

Course Description:

This course will serve as a general introduction to the history and to the core questions of philosophical aesthetics, with especial attention to the way these questions come up in relation to one particular art form: film.  We will also consider the problems of philosophical aesthetics that pertain uniquely to this art form.  We will do this both by reading and discussing theoretical texts on film, as well as by watching lots of movies.    We will be considering film both with respect to the ontology of the artwork as well as to the phenomenology of the viewing experience.  What we will not be doing in this course is philosophy through film.  That is, we will not be using films to inspire us to ask philosophical questions not related to film, such as, ‘How do I know I don’t, like, live in the Matrix?’ or ‘Did Sophie make the right choice?’ Such questions might come up in passing, but it will be our foremost purpose to approach aesthetics as an autonomous philosophical domain.