Philosophy 141 / Classics 141 (first half year)
Philosophy 141, Classical Concepts of Beauty, is a one-semester course both for students new to university and for continuing students interested in exploring philosophy. It is listed as both a Philosophy course and as a Classics course.
The course assumes no background whatsoever — it is designed for absolute beginners.
Classical Concepts of Beauty begins with Plato’s great and inspiring work, the Republic. We’ll look at Plato’s arguments for censoring art in an ideal state, along the way examining his view of society, knowledge, morality, and the nature of reality itself.
Plato’s condemnation of art makes a profound contrast with Aristotle. In the Poetics, Aristotle presents a theory of drama and entertainment that is as relevant to soap operas and Hollywood movies as it is to Greek tragedy.
Although the basic aesthetic theories are those of the greatest thinkers of ancient Athens, examples and applications are drawn from fiction, movies, music, painting, sculpture, video, body decoration, dance parties, and even fashion. The essential questions remain: What is a work of art? Why do the arts give us such intense pleasure? Plato thinks painting, story-telling, and music are potentially bad for us. Aristotle can’t get enough of them: not only are the arts pleasurable, they are downright health-inducing.
It’s been said that in the end, everybody is either a Platonist or an Aristotelian. Students will decide for themselves which camp they belong in — and many will be surprised by the outcome.
Lecturers for Classical Concepts of Beauty are Prof. Denis Dutton of the Department of Philosophy and Dr. Patrick O’Sullivan of the Department of Classics. Prof. Dutton edits the scholarly journal Philosophy and Literature and the website Arts & Letters Daily. Besides teaching Greek and Latin language and literature at all levels, Dr. O’Sullivan also teaches Greek art, mythology, and cultural history.
Classical Concepts of Beauty meets every Wednesday in the first half of the year, 10.00 A.M. until 11.40 A.M. Tutorials will be arranged.
General requirement for the course can be found HERE.
Reading begins with Plato’s Republic. Students may obtain any edition of this book. The Aristotle will be supplied from a special translation on the Internet.
In The School of Athens (1510), Raphael placed Plato and Aristotle at the center of the composition. His model for Plato was Leonardo da Vinci.