Art 623

TIFFIN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES

Minimum Course Content Guide

Course Number:    ART 623                      

Course Name:    Aesthetics

Prerequisite(s): None                                  

Course Description:  This required core course provides students with an overview of aesthetics as it embraces a philosophy of art, beauty, and taste and investigates the ways in which humans create, experience, and evaluate the fine arts.  Class discussions will focus on artistic masterpieces from a number of disciplines including music, drama, literature, painting, and sculpture.  Throughout the course students will analyze readings that explore philosophical issues and historical problems of various theoretical approaches to art and will include discussions on the nature and function of the artist, the intrinsic significance of an artistic object, and the concepts of aesthetic value, experience, attitude, and criticism.  An emphasis will be placed on developing a personalized philosophy of art.  Offered every semester. (3 hour)

Outcomes Assessment Course

Master of Humanities

Intended Outcome 1:

Students will develop develop the ability to analyze and evaluate works of scholarship or the arts. Courses involved: ENG 530, ART 524, and ART 623

Activity Statement: Through critical analysis, students will examine works of scholarship or arts in the humanities. In addition to learning about the work of scholarship or art and its role in the humanities, students will apply appropriate theoretical perspectives to the work. Students will develop and demonstrate graduate-level ability in analytic and evaluative skills. 

Assessment Criteria:

80% of students in will achieve a score of 80 percent or better on written critical papers, based upon the Graduate Humanities Rubric. 

Intended Outcome 2: 

Students will develop develop their ability to engage in honest, courteous, intelligent, scholarly discourse. Courses involved: All MA HUM courses.

Activity Statement: Weekly threaded discussion will be required of all courses in the Master of Humanities program. Participation and quality of content will be evaluated as determined by the context of the course. 

Assessment Criteria:

80% of the students will achieve a score of 80 percent or better on threaded discussions.  

Intended Outcome 3:

Students will learn to create a coherent, useful synthesis of knowledge from different domains by demonstrating familiarity with and knowledge of the fields contained within the Humanities. Courses Involved: ART 623, COM 520, COM 630, ART/COM 530, HUM 592, and HUM 680.

Activity Statement: Through a critical analysis, students will examine a work of scholarship or arts in the humanities. In addition to learning about the work of scholarship or art and its role in the humanities, students will apply critical theory to the work. Students will develop and demonstrate graduate-level ability in analytic and evaluative skills. 

Assessment Criteria:  

80% of students in will achieve a score of 80 or better on their final papers, based upon the Graduate Humanities Rubric. 

Goals:

Students will be able to –

·      defend the value and contribution of aesthetic experiences in human life

·      demonstrate an appreciation of art in its different forms

·      develop a fluency in fundamental aesthetic concepts, theories, and ideas

·      synthesize theoretical explanations of aesthetic experience by creating a personal definition and evaluation of art

Evaluation:

Students will contribute weekly discussions, reading summaries, presentations of art work with explanations of aesthetic interpretations, and a final project that is the equivalent to a twenty page paper.

Minimum Topic Outline:

Potential Textbooks:

·      Plato, The Republic, Book X & “The Allegory of the Cave”

·      Plotinus, Enneads, I.6

·      David Hume, “Of the Standard of Taste”

·      Immanuel Kant, “Critique of Aesthetic Judgement”

·      Friedrich Schiller, On the Aesthetic Education of Man

·      G.W.F. Hegel, Introduction to Aesthetics, Chs 1-3

·      Arthur Schopenhaer, The World as Will and Representation, Vol I.52

·      Leo Tolstoy, “On Art”

·      Clive Bell, “The Aesthetic Hypothesis”

·      John Dewey, Art as Experience

·      Martin Heidegger, “The Origin of the Work of Art”

·      R.G. Collingwood, The Principles of Art, Ch 7

Lead Instructor: Terry Collins

Updated: October 2010

Reviewed: Fall 2010

Reviewed: May 2012

Reviewed: Sept. 2012