00345 - Aesthetics

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student acquires the basic knowledge regarding the birth of aesthetics, its development and its multiple current tendencies. S/he also gets an idea of its connections with other disciplines, both the theoretical ones (such as poetics, hermeneutics and rhetorics) and those related to arts. The student’s use of the correct terminology and her/his ability in applying the main conceptual and methodological instruments put her/him in the position to critically understand the fundamental notions of aesthetics and to deal with the study of an aesthetical classic.

Course contents

Art and Truth. The Philosophy of Heidegger, the poetic visions of Herzog and Morandi.

The lesson course will start with an introduction to aesthetics. My aim will be to outline its history, its concepts e its main questions. We will take advantage of the studies of Władisław Tatarkiewicz, by means of which we will discuss six fundamental problems of aesthetics (art, beauty, form, creativity, imitation, aesthetic experience).

Afterwards we are going to take into consideration one of the XIXth Century’s main philosophical perspectives on art, i.e. that expressed by Martin Heidegger in his essay The Origin of the Work of Art. Through Heidegger we will try and understand the meaning and the importance of art, dwelling on some key-questions, such as:

1. In which way does the artwork sets truth to work?
2. Why does truth need to be set to work? What kind of truth is in play, if it must be creatively preserved in the work of art?
3. What is the relationship between art, artwork and artist?
4. In what sense is the artwork a “thing”?
5. Why is Dichtung so relevant in Heidegger’s assessment of art?
6. Why is it that philosophy is essentially driven to a dialogue with art? And what is at stake in this dialogue?

The ideas put into focus in the first part of the lesson course will then be challenged by two relevant contemporary artistic experiences, that of film director Werner Herzog and that of painter Giorgio Morandi.

In order to develop an understanding of the poetics and aesthetics of German filmmaker Werner Herzog, we will make use of the interview book A Guide for the Perplexed. The book will provide us with a basis that will allow us to discuss Herzog’s vision, his view of the moving image and of its connection with other artforms (such us literature, painting, music), his understanding of the relationship between fiction and documentary and finally his distinction between ecstatic truth and facts. We will take into consideration some of his films, among which Cave of Forgotten Dreams, The Wild Blue Yonder, Grizzly Man, Aguirre, Fata Morgana, Lessons of Darkness.

Finally, we will discuss the figure and the works of Italian painter Giorgio Morandi, his “difficult and secret” art (Cesare Brandi). In particular, we will try and understand one of Morandi’s key statements: “There is nothing more abstract than reality”. What is reality? What makes it “abstract” and enigmatic? Why do simple and common everyday objects (a jug, a teapot, a teacup, a vase) appear so mysterious? Why does the artist portray them over and over again? It looks like as if Morandi is deeply committed in grasping the presence of what is present. But isn’t this presence the most “obvious” and “trivial” of things? Why should a painter devote to this his entire work? And what role does art have in relation to the presence of things? Morandi’s art could turn out to be a pictorial meditation on the presence of what is present.

Readings/Bibliography

Władisław Tatarkiewicz, Storia di sei idee, presentazione e cura di K. Jaworska, tr. it. di O. Burba e K. Jaworska, consulenza scientifica e postfazione di L. Russo, Aesthetica Edizioni, Palermo 2017 (chapters 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11).

Martin Heidegger, L’origine dell’opera d’arte, in Id., Sentieri interrotti, a cura di P. Chiodi, La Nuova Italia, Scandicci (Firenze) 1968.

Richard Capobianco, La Via dell’Essere di Heidegger, a cura di F. Cattaneo, Orthotes, Salerno 2023.

Werner Herzog, Guida per i perplessi. Nuovi incontri alla fine del mondo, a cura di P. Cronin, ed. it. a cura di F. Cattaneo, Minimum Fax, Roma 2024.

Werner Herzog, Dell’assoluto, del sublime e della verità estatica, in G. Paganelli (a cura di), Segni di vita. Werner Herzog e il cinema, Il Castoro, Milano 2008, pp. 178-189.

Francesco Cattaneo, Richard Eldridge (a cura di), “Sogni febbrili”. Werner Herzog e la filosofia, numero monografico di “Estetica. Studi e ricerche”, anno X, n. 1, 2020 (articles of Daniele Dottorini and Francesco Cattaneo; the articles of Richard Eldridge and Paolo Stellino are also warmly recommended).

Museo Morandi – Bologna, il catalogo, Charta, Milano – Firenze 1993.

Roberto Longhi, Giorgio Morandi, a cura di M.C. Bandera, Abscondita, Milano 2023.

 

As far as the exam is concerned, students are required to choose five Herzog movies and five Morandi paintings, and to be ready to discuss them thoroughly. Students that have attended the lesson course are invited to choose among the movies and paintings discussed during the lessons. Students that have not attended the lesson course can choose freely on the basis of the texts mentioned in the bibliography.  

 

N.B. The bibliography may be subject to changes until the beginning of the lesson course.

Teaching methods

The course will consist of frontal lessons; sources will be commented and discussed and the problems and their historical context synthetically reconstructed. Teacher-led discussions will be encouraged.

Assessment methods

The final proof will take place in the form of an oral examination. During the examination the teacher will assess whether the student has achieved or not some basic educational goals: knowledge of the texts and capacity to contextualize authors and works; comprehension of the fundamental concepts and capacity to provide a correct interpretation of them; clarity in the explanation of concepts and accuracy in the use of philosophical terminology; capacity to establish connections between the various authors and themes from both a historical and a strictly speaking conceptual point of view. During the oral examination the teacher will assess if the student possesses the abovementioned knowledge and skills in a (more or less) complete, precise and adequate way, or vice-versa in a (more or less) incomplete, vague and superficial way. The final grade will correspondently vary from excellent (30 and honors) to very good (30) to good (27-29) to fairly good (24-26) to more than enough (21-23) to merely enough (18-21) to unsatisfactory (<18).

 

Exam sessions are scheduled for the following months of the academic year:

- January (for all students)

- March (for all students)

- June (for all students)

- July (for all students)

- September (for students in debt of exam)

- December (for students in debt of exam)

Teaching tools

All the aforementioned texts (in the specified editions) are an essential tool in order to actively participate in the classes. It is recommended to get hold of the texts before classe because specific parts will be read and commented. Equally important for the students will be to see the films and paintings discussed during the lessons.

Some other texts will be distributed through the channels offered by the Unibo portal.

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD), must first contact the appropriate office: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students .

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Cattaneo