73377 - Philosophy of Landscape end Environment

Learning outcomes

Aesthetics of Landscape. Geography and history of art and literature. Philosophy of the enviroment.

Course contents

The course deals with the relationship between the status of nature as landscape, then as product of culture, art and the birth of Aesthetics.

The first part of the course aims at describing the transformation of the idea of Nature, in relationship to Art and the meaning of history at the confluence between 18^th and 19^th Century. On the basis of Joachim Ritter’s interpretation, after having illustrated some tenets of Kantian Critique of Judgement, we will examine a couple of selected pages from Friedrich Schiller’s philosophical production in order to present the problem of nature as aesthetic experience, Schiller's historicizing of aesthetically dimension and then the problem of nature as present in the romantic thinking and art concerning nature. At the end of the first part of the course we will analyse a couple of selected pages from Hegel’s Lectures on fine Art and from the Phenomenology of Spirit in order to highlight the way Hegel establishes the primacy of art. The philosophical perspective will be integrated by an analysis of literary texts and paintings.

In the second part the course will focus on the more recent points of view on this topic, both on nature as aesthetic and cultural experience. In order to explain the main theories about the relationship between human culture and nature from an aesthetic point of view, as much as from a cognitive and anthropological  point of view, the course will focus also on regional perspectives: the role of landscape in literature, in fine arts and in cinema .

Readings/Bibliography

C. Brentano, Diversi sentimenti davanti a una marina di Friedrich; C.G. Carus, Friedrich, il pittore di paesaggi e Sulla pittura di paesaggio. Seconda lettera; H. von Kleist, Sentimenti davanti a una marina di Friedrich, in La natura e il sacro. Teoria romantiche della pittura, a cura di P. D’Angelo, Guerini, Milano 2001, pp. 133-142 e pp. 157-170.

F. Schiller, La passeggiata. Natura, poesia e storia, a cura di G. Pinna, Carocci, Roma 2005.

- Id., Sulla poesia ingenua e sentimentale, a cura di E. Franzini, trad. it. di W. Scotti, SE, Milano 2017.

G.W. F. Hegel, Fenomenologia dello spirito, ed. it. a cura di G. Garelli, Einaudi, Torino 2008, pp. 445-489.

- Id., Estetica, ed. it. a cura di N. Merker, con introduzione di S. Givone, Einaudi, Torino 1997 (e successive edizioni), pp. 3-104 e pp. 134-199.

- Id., Estetica. Il manoscritto della «Bibliothèque Victor Cousin», a cura di D. Giugliano, Einaudi, Torino 2017, pp. 41-61. 

G. Simmel, Saggi sul paesaggio, a cura di M. Sassatelli, Armando Editore, Roma 2006, pp. 53-112.

J. Ritter, Paesaggio, la funzione dell’estetico nella società moderna, in Id., Soggettività, a cura di T. Griffero, Marietti, Genova 1962, pp. 105-142.

P. D’Angelo, Filosofia del paesaggio, Quodlibet, Macerata 2010.

 

A text of your choice among the following alternatives: 

R. Assunto, Il paesaggio e l’estetica, Giannini, Napoli 1973, 2 voll., vol. I: pp. 1-50; 147-200; vol. II: pp. 1-47; 99-128; 187-260.

M. Budd, The Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature. Essays on the Aesthetics of Nature, Oxford University Press, New York 2002.

A. Berleant, A. Carlson (a cura di), The Aesthetics of Natural Environment, Broadview Press, Peterborough 2004, pp. 7-107; 140-169; 269-282.

E. Gombrich, Arte e illusione [1959], trad. it. di R. Federici, Torino, Einaudi 2002, pp. 17-96, pp.188-221, pp. 264-296 e Id., La teoria dell’arte nel Rinascimento e l’origine del paesaggio, in Norma e forma. Studi sull’arte del rinascimento, trad. it. di V. Borea, Einaudi, Torino 1973, pp. 156-177.

M. Jakob, Paesaggio e letteratura, Olschki, Firenze 2005.

R. Milani, L’arte del paesaggio, Il Mulino, Bologna 2000.

François Jullien, Vivere di paesaggio o l’impensato della ragione [2014], tr. it. di C. Tartarini, a cura di F. Marsciani, Milano-Udine, Mimesis, 2017.

 

Non-attending students are expected to study in addition to the planned training: J. Ritter, Estetica e modernità, Marinotti, Milano 2013.

 

Teaching methods

Reading and comments of philosophical texts in program (including multiple choice texts), literary documents, art-historical pictures and audiovisual material.

Assessment methods

The final proof will take place in the form of an oral examination. During the examination the teacher will assess whether the student has achieved some basic educational goals: knowledge of the texts and capacity to contextualize authors and works; comprehension of the fundamental concepts and capacity to provide a correct interpretation of them; clarity in the explanation of concepts and accuracy in the use of philosophical terminology; capacity to establish connections between the various authors and themes from both a historical and a strictly speaking conceptual point of view.

As optional, students can prepare a paper (20000-25000 number of digits) on a theme and on texts to be agreed with the teacher. In this case a third of the oral examination (33%) will consist in the discussion of the paper.

During the oral examination the teacher will assess if the student possesses the abovementioned knowledge and skills in a (more or less) complete, precise and adequate way, or vice-versa in a (more or less) incomplete, vague and superficial way. The final grade will correspondently vary from excellent (30 and honors) to very good (30) to good (27-29) to fairly good (24-26) to more than enough (21-23) to merely enough (18-21) to unsatisfactory (<18).

Teaching tools

Lectures, conversations and discussions with students. Projection of art-historical pictures and audiovisual material.

Office hours

See the website of Eleonora Caramelli