Goucher College 2019-2020 Undergraduate Catalogue 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
Goucher College 2019-2020 Undergraduate Catalogue PLEASE NOTE: This is an archived catalog. Programs are subject to change each academic year.

VMC 253 - Philosophy and/of Art (4 Cr.)

(PHL 253) (GCR RPP)
This course explores what art is and what aesthetic experience is, and especially what significance art has or can have for us as human beings. We will read some classic texts on these topics in the history of philosophy while examining pieces of art, whether painting, music, literature, graphic novel, film, television, and/or particular genres like humorous, political, religious, or abstract art. Some topics that we might cover include: How are our emotions involved in our experience of art? What is the relationship between art and representation? How are art and ethics related (why is some art considered offensive or dangerous)? What’s the relationship between politics and art? And how do notions of race, gender, and class relate to art? We will discuss these and other issues associated in the context of particular art forms. This class will thereby serve both as an introduction to thinking about art and as an introduction to philosophy. Offered Spring 2020 and every other spring semester. Shuster.