Artworks like paintings, novels, poetry, dramas, comics, movies, etc. do not merely entertain us, they also enrich our understanding of the world: think of how the tale of the Great Inquisitor in Dostoevskij’s Brothers Karamazov or the brothers Strugackij’s novel Hard to be a God outline complex moral dilemmas; whereas other artworks, like Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman or Sarah Kane’s 4:48 Psychosis, offer a window into others’ condition. Under the label “aesthetic cognitivism” we group all philosophical views that seek to clarify in what ways artworks deepen our understanding of the human condition.
In this seminar, we will discuss philosophical texts as well as different kinds of artworks (movies, literary texts, poems, comics, etc.) and explore questions such as: Can artworks be arguments? Does literature enhance our empathic imagination? Is there a distinctively aesthetic form of rationality? What is the relation between games and agency? Does music lead to a deeper self-understanding? How should we think of imaginative resistance?
The reading material will be made available via Moodle, including a list of works to be read/watched, etc. as part of the seminar requirements. As introduction to the seminar, I would recommend to read one or more of the following short stories (in any language): Ursula Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas;” Franz Kafka’s “The Burrow” (Der Bau) and “Before the Law” (Vor dem Gesetz); Arno Schmidt “Gadir or Know Thyself” (Gadir oder Erkenne dich Selbst); Jorge Luis Borges’ “The Immortal” (El inmortal); Ray Bradbury’s “The Cistern” and “The Fog Horn;” Alice Munro’s “The Moons of Jupiter.”
- Kursleiter/in: Alfredo Vernazzani