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Rob van Gerwen

November 07, 2022

Outline Begrippen How to News?
Rob van Gerwen, Ph.D.

Mind and Art

Outline
Institute Department of Philosophy
Credit Points 7,5 ECTS
Osiris Code Upon completion (contact the teacher)
Level WB2BL0001, WB3BL0001, WBMV06001
Prerequisites Either Ingang in de filosofie van de kunsten (WY2V14023) or Het Schone: filosofie van de kunsten (esthetica) (WY2V14017), or an adequate alternative.
Period Any period, assuming that the dates for start and finish of the course are agreed upon beforehand.
Language Dutch or English
Kubricks The shining
Wendy Torrence in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining
Content More and more, present-day philosophy retrieves arguments from recent developments in other (philosophical) disciplines.
In Image and Mind, Gregory Currie starts from state of the art Cognitive Science in an effort to re-evaluate traditional theories of art.
Currie concentrates on the art of film and criticizes both the so-called illusion-theory, which holds that film produces the illusion of reality or of movement, in its beholders, and its counterpart, the transparency-thesis, which argues that films and photographs are transparent to reality.
In the end, Currie arrives at the thesis that we cannot possibly proceed before developing an adequate theory of the imagination, which he then develops on the basis of results of contemporary debates about empathy as simulation.
Students may, if such proves relevant for the final stage of their study, propose a different book, instead of Currie's. See below for some suggestions.
Examination Examination takes place through regular meetings with the teacher regarding the student's writings:
2: two papers of approx. 3000 words;
3: one 3000-words paper, and a larger, 4000 words, synthesizing final paper;
M: two papers of approx. 2500 words, and a larger, 4000 words, synthesizing final paper;
The student is supposed to study a number of chapters and submit a proposal for a paper about the argument in them. Also, before heading on with the next paper contact is required with the teacher.
Compulsory texts: The basic literature for this course is a contemporary classic text in aesthetics. Next to this book, level-2 students read 3 extra articles, chosen after consulting with the teacher. Level-3 students add in total 6 articles; Master-level students add in total 8 articles;
Preferably pick one of these:
Currie, Gregory. 1998. Image and Mind. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press. Walton, Kendall L. 1990. Mimesis as Make-Believe. On the Foundations of the Representational Arts. Cambridge, Massachussetts: Harvard University Press. Scruton, Roger. 1997. The Aesthetics of Music. Oxford: Clarendon Press.


Alternatively you can pick coherent sets of articles (in total approx. 200 pages) from this reader:

Cahn, Steven M., and Aaron Meskin, eds. 2007. Aesthetics: A Comprehensive Anthology. Oxford: Blackwell. Additional papers can often be downloaded via Omega (through the University Library, UBU). This is done best from a location at the UU, or via this link from any other location. (You shall need a 'PDF-reader', such as Adobe's Acrobat Reader. Available as free download.)

 

Contact To enlist, apply with the teacher: rob.vangerwen AT uu.nl