Admission requirements
Admission to this course is restricted to:
BA students in Philosophy: Global and Comparative Perspectives, who have successfully completed at least 70 ECTS credits of the mandatory components of the first and second year of their bachelor’s programme, including Philosophical Skills and one of the following courses: Continental Philosophy from a Global perspective OR World Philsophies: Greek and Roman Antiquity.
BA students in Filosofie, who have successfully completed at least 70 ECTS credits of the mandatory components of the first and second year of their bachelor’s programme, including Filosofische vaardigheden and one of the following courses: Continentale filosofie: de vraag naar het heden OR Griekse en Romeinse filosofie.
Description
In this course, we will examine a particular trajectory within (Post-)Kantian aesthetics, characterized by a transition from perceiving art through the lens of beauty to what can be broadly termed an ‘aesthetics of disorientation.’ Our exploration of this aesthetics of disorientation will be structured around a series of significant concepts, each possessing a distinct signature and associated with specific philosophical challenges.
As a first entry point, we will focus on the sublime and its paradoxical nature, incorporating Immanuel Kant’s concept of das Erhabene, Edmund Burke’s notion of the sublime, and the contemporary resonances of these ideas in the works of Jean-François Lyotard, Jacques Rancière, and Paul Gilroy. A second perspective will be derived from another way in which the imagination may become overwhelmed: symbolization, which is linked to Kant’s schematism. We will connect this with Sergei Eisenstein’s ‘montage of attractions.’ In subsequent theories, like those of Paul Ricoeur and Jacques Derrida, this theme is addressed under the concept of the metaphor. A third model will be provided by Hegel’s analysis of tragedy as a conflict arising between two equally legitimate yet one-sided positions, critically reinterpreted by Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche. As a fourth entry point, we will examine various interpretations of estrangement, including Viktor Shklovsky’s Ostranenie, Bertolt Brecht’s Verfremdungseffekt, and Walter Benjamin’s Gestus. By integrating these four ‘models of disorientation,’ we will elucidate how each theory evaluates art’s capacity to provoke thought.
Course objectives
This course is designed to offer students the opportunity to:
analyze a particular trajectory within modern Aesthetics in which the focus starts to shift from an understanding of art in terms of beauty to an approach that views art more in terms of disorientation;
critically evaluate the various forms of disorientation that characterizes this trajectory
identify the link between these philosophical views and the artworks that either comply or diverge from these views;
recognize the relevance of this aesthetics of disorientation for understanding modern art.
Students who successfully complete the course will have a good understanding of:
the various views on the effects of disorientation that artworks bring about;
the differences between these effects of disorientation;
the relations between art and philosophy.
Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:
assess and interconnect a great variety of texts on the aesthetics of disorientation with each other and link them to traditional discussions in aesthetics;
give, receive, and process constructive feedback on written pieces;
develop an original and relevant question in which the philosophical implications of the disorienting effects of art are discussed and further developed and develop this is a well-structured argumentation.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
- Seminar
Assessment method
Assessment
Graded assessments
Article review.
Final paper on a question agreed in advance based on the submitted proposal.
Non-graded practical exercises
Students will have to present, at least once, their interpretation of one of the texts and discuss it with the group;
Each student has to hand in a proposal for the final essay and discuss it with the rest of the group;
Each student has to do a peer review of the proposals of two others;
In the last seminar, each student will have to present a draft version of the paper.
These four exercises will not be graded, but are required for getting admission to the exam (final paper).
Weighing
Article review (20%);
Final paper (80%)
The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average. To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher.
Resit
Satisfactory completion of practical assignments (presentation, proposal) is a prerequisite for taking the resit. Students who have obtained a satisfactory grade for the first examination cannot take the resit.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
Selections of the works of the author’s mentioned in the course description will be read. Texts will be made available through the library or Brightspace. We will conduct the course in English, using English translations. The students are invited to read the original text if they speak that language (German, French, Russian, etc.). These original texts are often freely available on the Internet.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Huizinga
Remarks
Not applicable.