85844 - Active Lifestyle, Aesthetics, Globalization

Learning outcomes

At the end of this course the student acquires knowledges about: - the current relationship between economic-political factors and developments (globalization) and creative processes structuring active lifestyles; - how to examine and interpret the cultural factors contributing to the achievement and maintenance of a condition of well-being.

Course contents

Title.

Aestheticization, Popular Culture, Sport, Lifestyle.

The course will inquire into some contemporary transformations of aesthetics also taking into consideration its relationship to certain social questions and its influence on our everyday life and the shaping of our lifestyle. In this perspective it will be especially examined a recent development of the tradition of pragmatist aesthetics, namely somaesthetics, and some recent questions concerning the so-called phenomenon of today’s widespread aestheticization of the world. The bibliography may be subject to changes until the beginning of the lecture course.

Readings/Bibliography

Readings/Bibliography

1) R. Shusterman, Pragmatist Aesthetics: Living Beauty, Rethinking Art, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., Lanham-Boulder-New York-Oxford 2000 (2^nd edition), only the following parts: pp. 139-147 (first part of Chapter 6: “Aesthetic Ideology, Aesthetic Education, and Art’s Value in Critique”), pp. 169-200 (Chapter 7: “Form and Funk: The Aesthetic Challenge of Popular Art”), pp. 236-283 (Chapters 9 and 10: “Postmodern Ethics and The Art of Living”, and “Somaesthetics: A Disciplinary Proposal”)

2) R. Shusterman, “Bodies in the Streets: The Soma, the City, and the Art of Living”, in Bodies in the Streets: The Somaesthetics of City Life, ed. by R. Shusterman, Brill, Leiden-Boston, pp. 13-37.

3) E. Wilson, Adorned in Dreams: Fashion and Modernity, London-New York: Tauris & Co. 2003 (2^nd edition), only pp. 1-15 (Chapter 1: Introduction).

4) W. Welsch, "Sport viewed aesthetically, and even as art?", in The Aesthetics of Everyday Life, ed. by A. Light and J.M. Smith, Columbia University Press, New York 2005, pp. 135-155.

5) G. L. Iannilli, "Everyday aesthetics" and "Aestheticization", in International Lexicon of Aesthetics (respectively available at: https://lexicon.mimesisjournals.com/international_lexicon_of_aesthetics_item_detail.php?item_id=39; and https://lexicon.mimesisjournals.com/international_lexicon_of_aesthetics_item_detail.php?item_id=14).

The bibliography may be subject to changes until the beginning of the lecture course.

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures.

Assessment methods

Assessment methods.

Attending students will first make a written exam, in one of the last lessons of the first part of the lecture course, on parts of the texts in the program that will be clearly indicated by the teacher, after having presented and explained them during the lessons. Then, attending students will make an oral examination on the other parts of the whole teaching programme, namely on the texts that were not included in the previous written exam. In case of attending students who did not succeed in obtaining a sufficient grade (min. 18/30) at the written exam, the teacher will allow them to make the whole exam in the oral form of a conversation on all the texts in the program.

Non-attending students will take the entire exam in the oral form of a conversation on the entire program including all texts.

The written and the oral parts of the examination will ensure the achievement of the following objectives:

- knowledge of the main conceptual contents of the texts examined; in particular, knowledge about the current relationship between sociopolitical factors and developments (globalization, also connected to widespread aestheticization) and creative processes structuring lifestyles;

- general orientation concerning the characteristics of the contemporary aesthetic culture; in particular, knowledge about how to examine and interpret the aesthetic factors contributing to the achievement and maintenance of a condition of well-being;

- comprehension of the meaning of the concepts learned in relation to the concrete phenomena taken into account.

Teaching tools

The lessons will be supported by the multimedia material available in the classroom.

Office hours

See the website of Stefano Marino