The module will examine the key German thinkers in the development of the philosophy of art from the mid-eighteenth century to the mid-twentieth century.  These include Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Marx, members of the Frankfurt School and Heidegger.  These thinkers explore the nature of art and beauty, and more specifically the problems of interpreting works of art and of understanding them in broader cultural, political and economic contexts.  These aesthetic theories will be read, where appropriate, in relation to the problems of understanding contemporary works of art, literature and music.

This double module aims to give students a grounding in the key philosophical approaches to art in nineteenth and twentieth century German philosophy, and to explicate the relationship between aesthetics and other key issues raised within German philosophy.

• demonstrate an awareness of questions that have been and continue to be central to German aesthetics.
• demonstrate an ability to analyse, interpret and evaluate works of art, through a detailed and critical understanding of the concepts, arguments and ideas that have been developed in German aesthetics.
• demonstrate an ability to interpret, criticise and use the ideas and arguments of the key philosophers in this tradition.
• demonstrate an awareness of some of the relationships between aesthetics, epistemology, metaphysics and social and political philosophy.
• demonstrate an ability to communicate and justify their interpretations and evaluations.

Teaching will be through a combination of weekly lectures and additional seminars.  Students will be expected to have read brief, selected passages from the authors prior to seminar classes, and be able to discuss them. 

The module will be taught using printed books, journal articles available online or from the library and using reproductions of paintings (typically derived from gallery and other web sites).

Timetabled sessions will be supplemented with written material in the form of a detailed summary of the session content and/or a list of a further reading. This supplementary material will be provided in the form of printed handouts distributed during the session and on Learning Central.  Any supplementary material in a permanent form (e.g. a paper handout or downloadable document) will be made available at the beginning of the session.

Still images or diagrams will be used in this module as an occasional supplement to illustrate points which are also presented verbally (e.g. in text or by means of a caption).

Sound, video or other multimedia resources will not be used in this module.

Intellectual Skills:

• The ability to interpret texts in both their historical and contemporary contexts
• The ability to appraise and assess arguments
• The ability to reach conclusions about the strengths and weaknesses of arguments and to justify these conclusions with sound reasoning and detailed interpretations of source material
• The ability to form a consistent position about questions raised in the module

Discipline Specific Skills:

• The ability to analyse and construct philosophical arguments
• The ability to interpret philosophical texts
• The ability to deploy appropriate philosophical vocabulary
• The ability to use (and derive value from) work in the tradition of German philosophy

Transferable Skills:

• The ability to analyse arguments
• The ability to read texts in a creative and disciplined manner
• The ability to communicate clearly and accurately in written work
• The ability to present work that has a logical structure
• The ability to form their own views and argue independent positions

Students will develop employability skills which include the ability to synthesise information, operate in group-based discussions which will involve negotiating ideas, and will be able to produce clear, informed arguments in a professional manner.

The formative assessment for this module will take the form of an essay of no more than 1000 words, on the topics given. This should be submitted through Learning Central prior to the end of the Autumn term.   In the Spring semester, a short mock exam will be set towards the end of the Spring term.

The summative assessment for this module will take the form of a portfolio of one essay (of not more than 2,000 words) plus one 90 minute written examination.

This module is assessed according to the Marking Criteria set out in the Philosophy Course Guide. There are otherwise no academic or competence standards which limit the availability of adjustments or alternative assessments for students with disabilities.

The module will examine the key German figures in nineteenth and twentieth century philosophy of art.  These include Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, and Marx in the nineteenth century.   The tradition of German idealism influences phenomenologists and hermeneuticians such as Husserl, Heidegger and Gadamer in the twentieth century.  In the twentieth century, the development of Marxism (not least in the work of Lukacs) will be seen to culminate in the work of the Frankfurt School, and particularly T. W. Adorno.  These thinkers and schools respond to basic problems of how art and beauty are to be defined, and more importantly, raise questions about the way in which works of art are to be interpreted.  In addition they consider the role that art plays, for good or ill, in our culture, politics and morality.

Steven M. Cahn and Aaron Meskin (eds.) Aesthetics:  A comprehensive Anthology, Oxford:  Blackwell, 2008.

Simon Glendinning (ed.) The Edinburgh Encyclopedia of Continental Philosophy, Edinburgh:  Edinburgh University Press, 1999.

T. W. Adorno, Prisms, Cambridge, MA:  MIT Press, 1967.

W. Benjamin, Illuminations, London:  Fontana, 1970.

J. Bernstein, The Fate of Art, Cambridge:  Polity, 1992.

Andrew Bowie, From Romanticism to Critical Theory, London:  Routledge, 1997.

Rüdiger Bubner (ed.), German Idealist Philosophy, Harmondsworth:  Penguin, 1997.

David Cooper (ed.), A Companion to Aesthetics, Oxford:  Blackwell, 1992.

Terry Eagleton, The Ideology of the Aesthetic, Oxford:  Blackwell, 1990.