06488 - History of Aesthetics

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students are able to know the main areas of aesthetic historiography, in relation to different orientations, first of all as regards aesthetics in modern and contemporary age, considering also the development of philosophical reflection on art from classical antiquity up to the Enlightenment. They must have acquired the basic knowledge related to the history of aesthetics understood as the philosophy of art and be able to recognize the aesthetic value of poetics and critical reflections that have been developed since antiquity. They must also know how to use survey methods that will enable them to analyze, according to a philosophical interpretation key, the complexity of the relationships involved in the definition of the aesthetic object and artistic object.

Course contents

Course Title: Between Alterity and Familiarity: Aesthetic Experience in the XX and XXI Centuries

The course addresses the problem of aesthetic experience starting from a constitutive tension that runs through some of the major philosophical traditions of the XX and XXI centuries: that between alterity and familiarity. These two concepts embody constitutive structures of the aesthetic capable of redefining its theoretical scope and field of application, freeing it from both the subjectivism and the contemplativism that have traditionally narrowed its domain.

Through the reading of a number of canonical texts of contemporary thought in the pragmatist, phenomenological, hermeneutic, critical-theoretical, deconstructionist, and everyday aesthetics traditions, the course shows how aesthetic experience unfolds within a tensive space between what resists domestication and what is already known – that is, between the alien and the familiar – thereby requiring reconstructions and adjustments of the experiential field.

This perspective allows to overcome some of the oppositions that have long shaped the aesthetic debate: between subject and object, between art and everyday life, between contemplative distance and perceptual engagement, between stability and contingency, negativity and positivity, and between the individual and the social and environmental context in which experience unfolds.

As part of the course there will be a workshop activity, organized in collaboration with the almæsthetics [https://centri.unibo.it/almaesthetics/it] research center. It will be based on specific analyses of some of the texts included in the syllabus, which will be carried out with the active participation of attending students. The modalities for conducting this activity will be illustrated at the beginning of the course.

Readings/Bibliography

T. W. Adorno, “Funzionalismo oggi”, “Proposta di non conciliazione”, in Id., Parva Aesthetica, Mimesis, Milano-Udine, pp. 147-163; 107-112.

J. Derrida: “La différance”, in Id., Margini della filosofia, Einaudi, Tornino, 1997, pp. 27-57.

J. Dewey, “L’esistenza in quanto precaria e in quanto stabile”, in Id., Esperienza e Natura, tr. it. di G. Matteucci, Einaudi, Torino 2026, pp. 46-75.

J. Dewey: “Pensiero qualitativo”, in G.L. Iannilli (a cura di), Il senso delle qualità. Saggi sulla percezione, Mimesis, Milano-Udine, 2024, pp. 201-222.

S. Freud, Il perturbante, in Opere Vol. 9. 1917-1923, Bollati Boringhieri, Milano, 1977, pp. 79-115.

H.-G. Gadamer, “La problematicità della conoscenza estetica”, “Estetica ed ermeneutica”, in Id., L’attualità del bello, Marietti, Bologna, 2021, pp. 61-79.

H.-G. Gadamer, “Ricostruzione e integrazione come compiti ermeneutici”, in Id., Verità e metodo, Bompiani, Milano, 1983, pp. 202-207.

H.R. Jauss, “Introduzione: il rinnovamento della questione dell’esperienza estetica”, in Id., Esperienza estetica ed ermeneutica letteraria, vol. I, Teoria e storia dell'esperienza estetica, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1987, pp. 21-35.

E. Levinas, “La filosofia e l’idea dell’infinito”, in Id., Scoprire l'esistenza con Husserl e Heidegger, pp. 189-253.

O. Naukkarinen, “Che cos’è ‘quotidiano’ nell’estetica del quotidiano?”, in Prospettive di un’estetica del quotidiano, Bononia University Press, Bologna, 2020, pp. 99-111.

E. Paci, “Orientamento estetico relazionistico”, in Id., Dall’esistenzialismo al relazionismo, pp. 283-298.

F. Rodi, “Stranianza e significatività”, in Discipline Filosofiche 1/1992, pp. 29-51.

R. Shusterman, “La fine dell’esperienza estetica”, in Esperienza estetica e arti popolari. Prospettive somaestetiche sulla teoria e la pratica, Mimesis, Milano-Udine, 2023, pp. 25-55.

R. Shusterman, “Forma e funk. La sfida estetica dell’arte popolare”, in Id., Estetica pragmatista, Aesthetica, Palermo, pp. 121-152.

R. Waldenfels, “L’uomo come essere di confine”, “Soglie d'attenzione”, in Id., Fenomenologia dell’estraneo, Raffaello Cortina Editore, Milano, 2008, pp. 17-37 e 107-127.

R. Waldenfels, “L’ordinario e lo straordinario”, in Id., Estraneo, straniero, straordinario. Saggi di fenomenologia responsiva, Rosenberg & Sellier, Torino, 2011, pp. 13-36.

Further reading for non-attending students:

E. Caramelli, C. Gentili, Storia dell’estetica, Le Monnier, Milano 2025 (Chapter 9, “Il Novecento”, only).

G.L. Iannilli, L’estetico e il quotidiano. Design, Everyday Aesthetics, esperienza, Mimesis, Milano-Udine, 2019, pp. 77-225.

 

N.b.: The program may be subject to change until the beginning of the course.

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures, seminars, and classroom presentations by students.

During the academic year, seminar series and other events organized by the Department of Philosophy will take place. They will be indicated by the teacher during the class.

Assessment methods

The exam may be taken in one of the following ways:

1) Presentation and Short Paper (the topic must be agreed upon in advance with the teacher):

- a Power Point presentation of 10 slides – to be given during the exam – accompanied by a 24.000 characters minimum paper on a transversal theme addressed in the bibliography.

n.b.: 

 The Power Point presentation and the paper must be sent via email to the teacher at least 6 days before the exam (registration is required on Almaesami). 

In order to write their paper, students are required to follow the editorial norms available at the following link: https://corsi.unibo.it/laurea/Filosofia/prova-finale.

 

2) Oral examination:

The assessment will concentrate particularly on the skill displayed by the student in handling the material in the exam bibliography and his/her ability to find and use information and examples to illustrate and correlate the various themes and problems addressed in the course.

The assessment will thus examine the student's:

- factual knowledge of the subject;
- ability to summarise and analyse themes and concepts;
- familiarity with the terminology associated with the subject and his ability to use it effectively.

Top marks will be awarded to a student displaying an overall understanding of the topics discussed during the lectures, combined with a critical approach to the material and a confident and effective use of the appropriate terminology.

Average marks will be awarded to a student who has memorized the main points of the material and is able to summarise them satisfactorily and provide an effective critical commentary, while failing to display a complete command of the appropriate terminology.

A student will be deemed to have failed the exam if he/she displays significant errors in his/her understanding and failure to grasp the overall outlines of the subject, together with a poor command of the appropriate terminology.

 

Exam sessions
During the 2026/2027 academic year, exam sessions are scheduled in the following months: January, March, May, June, September, October, November.

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)
Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders have the right to special adjustments according to their condition, following an assessment by the Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD. Please do not contact the instructor but get in touch with the Service directly to schedule an appointment. It will be the responsibility of the Service to determine the appropriate adjustments. For more information, 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.

Teaching tools

Powerpoints, conferences

Office hours

See the website of Gioia Laura Iannilli