PHIL-140 What is Art?

An exploration of some historical and recent attempts at defining art. Can 'art' can be defined at all? What, if anything, does Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa have in common with a work of street art? What, if anything, does hip hop have in common with classical music?  We will also ponder the role that art plays in our lives. Are some works of art immoral? Does art (most of which is fictional) help us understand real life? Why are we interested in genres like horror and tragedy that are designed to make us feel frightened or sad?

 

Maximum Enrollment

Proseminar (16)

(Proseminar, Social Structural and Institutional Hierarchies.)

Credits

1

Notes

Introduction to the philosophy of art/aesthetics.