philosophy 136 -...

Course Syllabus (PHIL 136: Philosophy of Art)

PHILOSOPHY 136 — CSUS

PHILOSOPHY OF ART, SECTION 1 (GE Area C1)

Professor: Dr. Mathias Warnes Spring 2018—Class Number 31270 Email: [email protected] Class Meets on M/W from 12:00pm-1:15pm in EUR105 Office Hours: T/Th 12:00pm-1:30pm in MND2030 Course Materials At: mathiaswarnes.com Catalog Description: Inquiry into the nature of art, beauty, and criticism, with critical consideration of representative theories. This course fulfills G.E. Area C1. Section Description: In this section, we will interpret philosophical theories of art, beauty, and the creative by philosophers across the history of Western philosophy, including, but not limited to, writings on art and aesthetics by Plato, Aristotle, Burke, Kant, Schiller, Schelling, Hölderlin, Novalis, Kleist, Nietzsche, Mallarmé, Valéry, Rilke, Heidegger, Benjamin, Marcuse, and Anzaldúa. Students will also gain exposure to the history of Western art, especially in regards to fine arts: painting, dance, literature, theater, sculpture, architecture, and music. Learning Objectives: By the completion of the course, students should be able to:

1. Identify, and explain the various philosophical approaches to art and beauty. 2. Distinguish objectivity from subjectivity, and explain the role of perspective in

aesthetic value. 3. Analyze and evaluate art as a creative process, a cognitive process, an emotive process,

and a social process. 4. Recognize, analyze, and evaluate art and beauty in relation to other sources of value,

including ethical, epistemic, social/political, and personal value. 5. Apply philosophical methods to examine objects and artifacts for their aesthetic value. 6. Read and comprehend key texts in aesthetics from historical and contemporary

sources. 7. Write cogent and clear philosophical analyses of various issues and questions in

aesthetics.

GE AREA C1 LEARNING OUTCOMES Students who complete a GE Area C1 course should be able to:


1. Think conceptually and critically about medium, performance or presentation, and production for at least one art form;

2. Demonstrate knowledge of artistic production, aesthetic properties, and the way creative work is shaped by artistic and cultural forces;

3. Have an acquaintance with a broad understanding of artistic forms, genres, and cultural sources;

4. Be able to develop and defend informed judgments about creative work; 5. Demonstrate knowledge of the conventions of at least one of the disciplines in the

arts.

Required Text: 1. Tanke, Joseph & McQuillan, Colin. The Bloomsbury Anthology of Aesthetics. London: Bloomsbury, 2012. ISBN: 9781441138262. 2. Coursepack available in PDF at “Course Materials” at mathiaswarnes.com, and on SacCT.

Grade Breakdown:

Reading Responses 30% Novalis Experiment 10%

Midterm Exam 20% Final Exam 20%

Active Participation 10% Presentation 10%

Reading Responses:

Reading Responses (30%): Students are expected to read the assigned readings prior to each class. To make sure that you are doing the readings and thinking about them, I require that you write a Reading Response (6 Reading Responses total, 5% each). Keep in mind that Reading Responses must cover one assigned reading for the current week, or immediately preceding week. Reading Responses on material covered earlier are considered late. Late Reading Responses are accepted at any time for half credit. Length requirements are strict. Reading Response must be between 2-3 pages, 1.5- or double-spaced typed, 12 pt. font, with standard margins. Remember: Reading Responses are due at the start of class during our second weekly meeting. If you can’t make it to a class for a valid reason (e.g. sickness), you may email me your Reading Response on the due date with an explanation, but you also need to bring a printed copy of your Reading Response to the next class meeting, or I won’t grade it. Printer difficulties at home do not constitute a valid excuse. Again, I will only accept emailed reading responses, with hard-copy to follow, in the case of class absence with a qualified excuse. Although these are ‘Reading Responses,’ i.e. personal and academic reflection exercises on assigned texts, formal content and quality requirements will be strictly enforced. A Reading Response Rubric is available at mathiaswarnes.com. You are encouraged to print and attach this rubric to each submission. Reading Responses will be graded on a five category system. “E+” means exemplary (100%), “E” means excellent (90%), “G” means good (80%), “S” means satisfactory (70%), and “U” means unsatisfactory. “U” work may be resubmitted at any time, with suitable revisions, for “S” or “G” credit, provided that you attach your original “U” entry to your revision. Between reading & writing expect to spend 3-4 hours of work per Response.


Presentation (10%): Each student is expected to do a short (strictly 10-15 minute max) presentation, and prepare an accompanying power-point presentation (8-12 slides). You should consider your presentation date as set in stone once scheduled unless you have a really good reason for needing to reschedule. Poor personal planning does not constitute a good reason for rescheduling, so choose your presentation date wisely. Group presentations are allowed so long as the following is observed. A group of 2-3 (3 max) should come together based on topics and texts that are naturally presented together, and it must also be clear which parts are your own work, and which are the work of co-presenters. How are presentations graded? /10. Fantastic presentations receive a 10/10. Most presentations receive a 7 (satisfactory, fulfills basic requirements), 8 (good, it is effective/informative), or 9 (excellent, contains great insights, is of a high educational value). A 6/10 or lower indicates that you did not fulfill one or several basic requirements. A Presentation Rubric is available under Course Materials at mathiaswarnes.com. If you wish to receive your grade breakdown after presenting then you need to print this rubric and hand it to your instructor on your presentation day. Each presenter will be graded separately so do not give me one rubric for group presentations. It has occurred that students have plagiarized from online .ppt files. To prevent this, I now require all students to upload a .ppt file to Turnitin on their presentations day. Note well: you must come to your presentation day with a PPT or PDF copy of your presentation on a flash-drive. Don’t email it to me or expect to log-in! This invariably eats up valuable class time! If you don’t come with a flashdrive, you will not present. No exceptions!

Active Participation (10%): So as not to give participation points for warming a seat, a diversity of opportunities will be available to earn participation points. For students who follow all guidelines and complete all assignments per syllabus instructions to the “T”, and who do not have excessive absences or lates, 5% towards your Active Participation will be awarded automatically at the end of semester. Be advised, this free 5% will only be awarded to students with perfect (or near perfect) records for the class. If you have missed or late assignments, or excessive absences or lates, you forfeit this free 5% automatically. The remaining 5% (or 10% depending on your case) can be earned in a variety of ways. The most consistent way to earn AP points is to come to class: 1. having done the readings, and 2. with 1 printed page that formulates 3 relevant questions to the current reading(s). To receive AP credit for this your questions must: 1. address at least 1 reading for the current class session only; 2. be well-formulated with specific citations from that reading; 3. be 3-4 lines of text for each question; and 4. address the beginning (Question 1), middle (Question 2), and end (Question 3) of the assigned reading. Additionally, the questions should reflect a sincere attempt to interpret and engage with the reading (i.e. you will not earn any AP credit for one-liners). Each excellent 3 question submission is worth between 1-2% towards your active participation grade. Other ways to earn AP points that you may discuss with your instructor include multimedia assignments such as film responses, attending course-related cultural events and doing a 2 page write-up, mini-presentations on undertreated curricula or research projects, and in-class group work.

Note on Attendance Penalties: I do not need to know the reason each time you are absent, & I do not excuse excessive absences except in extremely rare circumstances. I allow up to 3 absences without penalty for the entire semester. Above 3 absences, and your grade will be penalized at a rate of 1% per absence (up to 10% of your grade). Note well: the 1% penalty per absence is in addition to the 5% AP you forfeit if you have excessive absences. In other words, absenteeism is heavily penalized in my class, and will result in a lower grade. So use your absences wisely! If you can’t abide by this policy, consider taking an online course. Please


be advised that lates count towards absences (2 lates = 1 absence) as does disruptive behavior.

TURNITIN ORIGINALITY VERIFICATION: Consistent with Sacramento State’s efforts to enhance student learning, foster honesty, and maintain integrity in our academic processes, this course will use a tool called Turnitin to compare a student’s work with an extensive database of prior publications and papers, providing links to possible matches and a ‘similarity score’. Reading Responses (& in hard copy), Presentation, and Midterm and Final Exam must all be submitted using this tool. Work submitted only in hard copy will not receive a grade. Originality scores from Turnitin submissions will be definitive of a student’s compliance with University Academic Honesty requirements. If there is any variation between the essay submitted to Turnitin and that submitted to the instructor for grading, the Turnitin score is definitive. So be sure not to revise your essay after submission to Turnitin. Login to http://www.turnitin.com/en_us/home to create a student account.

Enroll in Course ID#: 16985735 Enrollment Password: Aesthetics Novalis Experiment (10%): Instructions for the Novalis Experiment will be given in class when we get to our Novalis unit (Week 7).

Midterm & Final Exam (20%/20%): The Midterm and Final Exams are take-home. They test your knowledge of core curricula, and consists of 8-10 short answer, and/or 1-2 short essays. Midterm & final will be uploaded 1 week prior to the due date to mathiaswarnes.com.

PHIL 136 – Philosophy of Art: Course Schedule

READING SCHEDULE: Please bring *all course materials to each class. Each student is expected to show up to class having done the readings, prepared to hand in homework, and ready to contribute to in-class discussions. Ignorance of assignments, readings, and/or due dates is no excuse. The following schedule is not absolute. The dates serve as markers for when readings will be lectured on and discussed in-class. I will spend a few minutes at the beginning and end of each class discussing where we are at and where you should be. The benefit of this approach is that we will not be too rushed. The cost of this benefit is that you are responsible for knowing where we are on the syllabus.

Week One Jan 22, 24

M, Introductions, Syllabi W, Lecture: Why Study Philosophy of Art?

Week Two Jan 29, Jan 31

Unit 1, Classical Aesthetics: Inspiration, Censorship, Poetry, Love, & Beauty

M, Plato on Inspiration, Ion, Coursepack, p. 1-26 W, Plato on Censorship, Republic, p. 1-39


Reading Response 1 Due

Week Three Feb 5, 7

M, Plato on Beauty, Phaedrus, Coursepack, p. 27-39 W, Plato on Love and Poetry, Symposium, Coursepack, p. 40-63

Week Four Feb 12, 14 (Feb 16 is Census Date)

M, Aristotle on Tragedy, Poetics, p. 40-54 W, Burke’s A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, p. 97-100, 163-185


Student Presentations Begin

Week Five Feb 19, 21

Unit 2, Modern & Romantic Aesthetics: Beauty, Sublimity, Play, Genius, & Artistic Religion

M, Kant on Beauty, Critique of Judgment, p. 237-65 W, Kant on Sublimity and Genius, Critique of Judgment, p. 266-85


Student Presentations Cont’d

Week Six Feb 26, 28

M, Schiller’s Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Humanity, p. 285-99 W, Schelling’s System of Transcendental Idealism, p. 302-310


Week Seven Mar 5, 7


M, Hölderlin, p. 300-301; Coursepack, p. 64-79 W, Novalis, p. 311-316; Coursepack, p. 80-87

Novalis Experiment Instructions Given


Midterm Exam Posted at mathiaswarnes.com

Week Eight Mar 12, 14

Unit 3: Nietzsche’s Reflections on Art as Turning Point for Western Aesthetics: Symbolism, Modernism, and the Question of Truth in Art

M, Kleist on the Marionette Theater, Coursepack, p. 88-91 W, Nietzsche on Apollo and Dionysus as Art-Deities, p. 346-66


Take-Home Midterm Exam Due

Spring Recess Mar 19-23

Week Nine Mar 26, 28

M, Heidegger on Nietzsche’s Five Theses on Art and Rapture, Coursepack, p. 92-115; The Later Nietzsche on Art, p. 367-72; W, Heidegger on Nietzsche on Art Cont’d, Coursepack, p. 116-136



Week Ten Apr 2, 4

M, Baudelaire & Mallarmé, p. 373-6, & Coursepack, p. 137-41


W, Valéry on Poetry as Experience, p. 408-413, & Coursepack, p. 142-50


Week Eleven Apr 9, 11

M, Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet, Coursepack, p. 151-72 W, Rilke Cont’d, Start Heidegger’s The Origin of the Work of Art, p. 376-402



Week Twelve Apr 16, 18

Unit 4: The Role of Art in Heideggerian Ontology, Marxism, Affect-Theory, and Border-Arte

M, Heidegger’s OWA essay Cont’d W, Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, p. 314-329


Novalis Experiment Due

Week Thirteen Apr 23, 25

M, Benjamin Cont’d W, Marcuse’s Aesthetic Dimension, p. 342-51



Week Fourteen Apr 30, May 2

M, Marcuse Cont’d W, Anzaldúa on Art and Ethnopoetics of Shamanism, Coursepack, p. 172-5

Last Day for Student Presentations


Last Day to Submit all Late Work including AP

Last Day to Submit all Work on Turnitin (except Final Exam)

Week Fifteen May 7, 9

Film Week and Course Discussion (Venus in Furs by Polanski, 2013)

Final Exam Posted at mathiaswarnes.com

Finals Week May 14-18

Take-Home Final Due on Turnitin: Wednesday, May 16th by 11:59pm

Administrative Matters Grading Policy: A student’s grade for this course must be based upon mastery of course content. A student’s grade cannot be based upon mere attendance, extraneous extra-credit, scholarship, financial aid needs, or other special pleading. It is important that students examine the syllabus and plan appropriately to achieve the grade they desire. I will be happy to meet with you during office hours to discuss how best to achieve your target grade. This class uses standard grading. Please be aware of the significance of the grades. Grading Scale:A= 100%-93%, A-=92-90% B+= 89%=87% B= 86%-83% B-= 82%-80% C+= 79%-77% C= 76%-73%C-= 72%-70%D= 69%-60%F= 59% or less. “A” designates exemplary work, an example of what all students should do. “B” designates good work. Some students seem to believe that “B” means bad work. This is not the case. “B” signifies that the student has done good work. “C” means that the student has done average or mediocre work. “D” signifies poor work. “F” signifies that the student has not worked enough to receive course credit. Attendance: Roll is taken at the beginning of each class. Any student who accumulates over five hours (four full classes) of unexcused absence may be dropped without notice. If you have missed over five hours, and don’t want to be dropped, you should contact me with an explanation that counts as a qualified excuse. Also, be advised that lates count towards absences (2 lates = 1 absence). Students leaving class early without notifying me are remarked as absent. Students who exceed five hours of absence but are not dropped are subject to other adverse consequences: 1. Excessively absent or tardy students will receive grade penalties (1% grade deduction per class up to 10%); 2. Late RR’s or other assignments may not be accepted from excessively absent students when they are absent on the due date. Remember, it is your responsibility to drop the class if you stop attending. So while I may drop you, do not rely on me to do this. If you are late to class and miss roll call, it is your responsibility to inform me of your presence. No corrections to the attendance are made on subsequent days.

Classroom Behavior: All students are expected to maintain professional and courteous


conduct in the classroom at all times. Disruptive behavior will initially receive a reprimand but can result in a student’s dismissal from the classroom. Students may, in some cases, only be re-admitted after sitting down for a talk with an academic advisor or on other authority figure. Excessive talking, with the exception of discussion contributions, counts as disruptive behavior. Leaving and re-entering the classroom for reasons other than unavoidable bathroom breaks, eating loudly, sleeping, reading outside materials or being otherwise absorbed, and especially having private conversations, all count as disruptive behavior. In addition, I expect an atmosphere of solicitous attention and respect for the instructor and for other students’ expressions and opinions, and a consistently objective and empathetic response to the material we study together. Observing these guidelines will ensure a better learning experience.

Cell Phones and Other Electronic Equipment: Student distraction due to cell phone and laptop has reached truly epidemic proportions. Attentive focus on what we are doing as a class is crucial for student success, and our shared classroom inspiration and morale. Therefore, I have an EXTREMELY STRICT cell phone and laptop usage policy. ELECTRONIC DEVICES CANNOT BE USED IN CLASS FOR ANY REASON (unless I give specific permission). If I detect any cell phone or laptop usage whatsoever, if I even see an idle cell phone or laptop on a desk when no special permission has been given, I will summarily dismiss that student from the classroom for that day’s session, and remark the student as “absent” in my records. I realize that some students prefer to take notes on laptops, and I wish I could accommodate this, but it is simply not possible to monitor when laptops are being used for notes, & when they are used otherwise. I can make only very few exceptions when it comes to this policy, for example, in the case of students with learning disabilities, or students who I completely trust to use a laptop appropriately. Plagiarism and Honesty in Academic Work: You are responsible for familiarizing yourselves with the CSUS policy regarding academic honesty. This library link is very helpful: http://library.csus.edu/content2.asp%3FpageID=353.html. It is important to know that plagiarism and cheating are serious ethical violations and have consequences. Violations of standards of academic conduct include but are not limited to the following: 1. Receiving or providing assistance on an examination or assignment unless the instructor authorizes such assistance; 2. Using materials other than those permitted by the instructor during an examination; 3. Plagiarizing: failure to indicate the source of borrowed words and ideas. Plagiarism defined: Simply stated, plagiarism is “the taking of others’ words or thoughts without due acknowledgment.”1 This definition applies to both printed, online, & unpublished material. That is, students must acknowledge, through the appropriate forms of citations, any borrowed ideas or phrases, and all direct quotations if more than three or four words. They also must not submit work that has been written, revised, or edited, in part or in whole, by another. I return all plagiarized work ungraded; you may or may not, after a serious meeting with me be allowed to resubmit the assignment. In cases of clear and deliberate plagiarism, you will receive a 0 for the assignment, and will not be allowed to resubmit. Repeated instances of plagiarism will result in a failing grade in the course. Plagiarism rules are the same for all work for my course: including reading responses, presentation, exams, and essays, etc. Students with Disabilities: If you have a verified need for an academic accommodation or materials in alternate media (i.e.: Braille, large print, electronic text, etc.) per the Americans 1 Frederick Crewes, The Random House Handbook, 3rd ed. New York: Random House, 1980 (p. 405).


with Disabilities Act or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, please contact me as soon as possible to arrange accommodations. It is your responsibility to provide documentation of disability to SSWD and meet with a SSWD counselor to request special accommodation before classes start. SSWD is located in Lassen Hall 1008 and can be contacted by phone at (916) 278-6955 (Voice); (916) 278-7239 (TDD only); or via email at [email protected]. Other Free Help: For free, one-on-one help with writing in any class, please visit the University Reading and Writing Center in Calaveras 128. The Writing Center can help you at any stage of your reading/writing processes: coming up with a topic, developing, or organizing a draft, understanding difficult texts, or developing strategies to become a better editor. To make an appointment visit the Reading and Writing Center in CLV 128. For current Writing Center hours and more information, visit the website at www.csus.edu/writingcenter.

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