B5456 - Aesthetics (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of this course, students become familiar with some of the main concepts of aesthetic thought and their mutual relations, also in connection with other basic concepts of philosophy. Students will furthermore acquire the ability to read and interpret with a certain degree of autonomy aesthetic-philosophical texts. The course’s objective is to provide tools to go deeper into the study of the various forms of the aesthetic, along with a critical awareness of the relationship among the structuring of concepts, theories and poetics of formative processes, and the various modes of experience in their practical, vital and behavioural aspects. Special attention will be paid to the contemporary reality of the aesthetic in which, at the end of the course, students will be able to recognize an open, non-dogmatic horizon of phenomena in continuous transformation.

Course contents

The Political Operativity of the Aesthetic: Between Mediation and Narrative Forms

 

The course explores the role of aesthetic forms in the processes through which individual and collective experience is configured. Rather than being identified exclusively with art or with an instance of beauty, the aesthetic will be understood as an operative dimension that intervenes in the formation of the human and in the configuration of the real, the imaginary, and the possible. From this perspective, the course examines some of the major modern and contemporary reflections on the efficacy of aesthetic forms, showing how they contribute to shaping the processes of experience and highlighting their anthropological, philosophical, and critical-political implications.

 

The course is divided into two modules.

Please note: The second module has been revised with respect to the version originally published, following a further development of the course project. Students with a particular interest in the original version are welcome to contact the teacher in order to discuss possible adaptations to the examination programme.

 

Module 1: The Aesthetic as Mediation

Against the background of the questions concerning the relationship between aesthetics and politics that have recently been reformulated, the first part of the course begins with Friedrich Schiller’s Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man, in which aesthetic experience is conceived as a principle of mediation between the fundamental tensions of human nature. This paradigm will then be traced through one of its most significant twentieth-century developments, Herbert Marcuse’s aesthetic theory, in which the aesthetic retains a decisive emancipatory function.

 

Module 2: The Crisis of Human Integrality and the Politics of Narrative Forms

Through a close reading of texts by György Lukács, José Ortega y Gasset, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Siegfried Kracauer, the second part of the course will examine the ways in which the crisis of the integrality of human experience is intertwined with the metamorphoses of the novel throughout the twentieth century. From this perspective, the growing restlessness of narrative forms will be understood not simply as a reflection of the historical transformations of modernity, but as one of the sites where those transformations are articulated, according to a relationship of reciprocal implication between the crisis of experience and formal experimentation. The politics of narrative forms will thus be approached in terms of their capacity to intervene performatively in the constitution of experience, contributing to the reconfiguration of the real, the imaginary, and the possible. The final part of the module will first examine detective novel as a laboratory in which this dynamic finds a particularly significant formulation, before broadening the discussion to a wider line of development which, through the transformations of narrative media, remains at work in selected forms of contemporary audiovisual seriality.

Readings/Bibliography

Module 1:

F. Schiller, Lettere sull’educazione estetica dell’uomo, in Id., Educazione estetica, Aesthetica, Sesto San Giovanni, 2020, pp. 23-107.

H. Marcuse, Eros e civiltà, Einaudi, Torino, 1964, cap. 9: “La dimensione estetica”, pp. 138-156.

H. Marcuse, L’arte nella società a una dimensione, in Id., Critica della società repressiva, Feltrinelli, Milano, 1968, pp. 135-148 (o altra edizione successiva).

H. Marcuse, La dimensione estetica. Verso una critica dell’estetica marxista, in Id., La dimensione estetica. Un’educazione politica tra rivolta e trascendenza, Guerini, Milano, 2002, pp. 9-50.

 

Module 2:

G. Lukács, Teoria del romanzo, SE, Milano, 2024 (o qualsiasi altra edizione).

J. Ortega y Gasset, Sul romanzo, Cluster-A, Milano, 2026 (o qualsiasi altra edizione).

J-P. Sartre, Che cos’è la letteratura?, in Id., Che cos’è la letteratura, Il Saggiatore, Milano, 1991, pp. pp. 11-121.

S. Kracauer, Il romanzo poliziesco, SE, Milano, 2011 (o qualsiasi altra edizione).

 

The texts indicated for both modules are mandatory for the 12 cfu exam.

Non-attending students will also be required to read:

S. Catucci, Estetica della speranza, in H. Marcuse, Teoria critica del desiderio, manifestolibri, Roma, 2011, pp. 267-285.

G. Di Giacomo, Estetica e letteratura: il grande romanzo tra Ottocento e Novecento, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 1999, pp. 5-83.

 

The program is subject to change until the beginning of the course.

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures and classroom presentations by students.

Assessment methods

The examination may be taken in one of the two following formats.

 

1) Written paper (followed by a brief oral discussion)

For the 6 CFU examination, students are required to submit a paper of approximately 10 pages (around 30,000 characters, including spaces) on a topic, to be agreed upon with the teacher, that develops a transversal issue across the texts included in the course bibliography.

For the 12 CFU examination, students are required to submit a paper of approximately 15 pages (around 45,000 characters, including spaces) on a topic, to be agreed upon with the teacher, that develops a transversal issue across the texts included in the course bibliography.

Students may also propose alternative topics that compare one or more of the texts included in the bibliography with authors or aesthetic phenomena related to their own specific interests. Such topics must be approved in advance by the teacher.

The paper must be submitted to the teacher in PDF format no later than one week before the examination session in which the student intends to take the exam. Students must also register for the examination through AlmaEsami.

The written paper will be the subject of a brief discussion with the teacher.

The assessment of the written paper will focus in particular on the student's ability to engage critically with the bibliography, to develop a clear and coherent argument, and to establish meaningful connections among the texts through an independent interpretation. The use of secondary literature is not required, although its appropriate use may strengthen the overall argument.

The written paper will be considered:

- excellent if it presents a rigorous analysis of the texts, a well-developed and coherent argument, a high degree of interpretative independence, and a highly effective overall structure.

- fully satisfactory if it presents a precise and rigorous analysis, a coherent argument, a good degree of interpretative independence, and a clear overall structure.

- satisfactory if it demonstrates a good understanding of the texts, a well-organised discussion, and a limited but evident degree of interpretative independence.

- correct if it provides a reliable reconstruction of the course material, supported by an accurate though predominantly descriptive discussion.

- sufficient if it demonstrates a general understanding of the texts, although textual precision is only partial and the discussion includes some inaccuracies or oversimplifications.

- unsatisfactory if it contains significant conceptual errors, demonstrates an insufficient understanding of the texts, presents a weak argument, or is inadequately structured.

 

2) Oral examination

For the 6 CFU examination, the oral examination will cover the bibliography listed for Part 1.

For the 12 CFU examination, the oral examination will cover the bibliography listed for Parts 1 and 2, according to the specifications provided in the syllabus.

Assessment will focus in particular on the student's ability to navigate the required bibliography, identify the information relevant to the discussion of the topics and problems addressed in the course, and establish meaningful connections among them.

The following aspects will be evaluated:

- mastery of the course content;

- ability to analyse and synthesise concepts and themes;

- ability to express ideas clearly, accurately, and using appropriate disciplinary terminology.

Excellent marks will be awarded to students who demonstrate a comprehensive and well-structured understanding of the topics addressed during the course, together with the ability to discuss them critically and independently, while displaying excellent command of both language and subject-specific terminology.

Satisfactory marks will be awarded to students who demonstrate a sound factual knowledge of the course material, together with adequate analytical and synthetic abilities, expressed in generally correct, although not always fully appropriate, disciplinary language.

Students whose preparation reveals gaps in their knowledge and/or whose use of disciplinary terminology is only partially appropriate, despite demonstrating a basic understanding of the examination material, will receive a passing mark only.

Examinations showing significant gaps in knowledge, inappropriate use of disciplinary language, and an inability to orient oneself within the required bibliography will be assessed as unsuccessful.

 

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are entitled to special adjustments according to their condition, subject to assessment by the University Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD. Please do not contact teachers or Department staff, but make an appointment with the Service. The Service will then determine what adjustments are specifically appropriate, and get in touch with the teacher. For more information, please visit the page:
https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

It is recommended that students contact the University office in advance. Any proposed adjustments must be submitted at least 15 days in advance for the instructor’s approval, who will evaluate their appropriateness in relation to the learning objectives of the course.

 

Exam sessions

Exam sessions are scheduled during the calendar year in the following months: January, March, May, June, September, November.

Teaching tools

Power point slides concerning course's texts and topics will be used.

Office hours

See the website of Giovanni Matteucci