PHIL 3510 - [Aesthetics]

(LA-AS)

Fall or spring. 4 credits.

Next offered 2014-2015.

N. Silins.

This course will focus on the chief philosophical issues surrounding the two most pervasive artforms: literature and music. Many of the issues in philosophy of literature parallel those in the philosophy of music, and this course will focus on this comparison. Is music more than just sounds, and literature more than just words? Are literary and musical works abstract objects? How are they created/destroyed or are they eternal? Is a musical score like a literary manuscript? How might one go about making a musical or literary forgery? How should we interpret literature and music, especially non-representational music (absolute or pure music)? Can notions of authenticity and improvisation play similar roles in literature and music? Why do we respond emotionally to some fiction? How can music evoke emotional responses? When is a musical or literary work art? Are works of pulp fiction and pop songs artworks?

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