96461 - ESTETICA E TEORIE DEL GUSTO

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the student acquires the capacity to develop critical reflections and observations on the relation between cultural, creative, production and consumption processes that are characteristic of the domain of taste, understood both in its specific meaning related to food and in its broader meaning related to the aesthetic. On this basis, the student is also able to take into examination and interpret the structures that connote the kind of aesthetic experience that is connected to the practices of taste and the constitution of everyday-life environments through those practices. The student finally acquires knowledge and skills about the contextualization and promotion of taste in the context of contemporary culture and about the analysis of aesthetically mediated experiences, also in light of the main debates in this field today.

Course contents

First part. Prof. Stefano Marino

The first part of this lecture course is aimed, in general, at rediscovering what we may call the complexity of taste, as a human power or capacity and as way of making experience and thus of establishing a relation with the real. We will pay attention, above all, at some implications and consequences of taste, broadly understood, and of the human relation with food, both at an aesthetic and at an ethical level.

Second part. Prof. Gioia Laura Iannilli

The second part of this lecture course is aimed, in particular, at investigating an extra-artistic, relational, practical and qualitative perspective about the aesthetic and about aesthetics, with regard to the question concerning taste and food. We will pay attention, above all, at the question of aesthetic knowledge, understood as an (implicit) operative know-how and not necessarily as an (explicit) thematic form of knowledge.

Readings/Bibliography

FIRST PART.

G. Matteucci (ed. by), Elementi per un'estetica del contemporaneo, BUP, Bologna 2017.

C. Korsmeyer, Il senso del gusto. Cibo e filosofia, Aesthetica Edizioni, Palermo 2015.

P. Singer, Liberazione animale, Net, Milano 2003, only pp. 3-15, 108-194.

SECOND PART.

Basic readings:

N. Perullo, Il gusto come esperienza. Saggio di filosofia ed estetica del cibo. Slow Food Editore, Bra, 2016.

N. Perullo, L'altro gusto. Per un'estetica dell'esperienza gustativa, only chap. 5-6 (pp. 109-143), ETS Editore, Pisa 2021

Further introductory readings:

G. L. Iannilli, Everyday Aesthetics, “International Lexicon of Aesthetics”, Autumn 2018 Edition, URL = https://lexicon.mimesisjournals.com/archive/2018/autumn/EverydayAesthetics.pdf, DOI: 10.7413/18258630039.

N. Perullo, Gustatory Aesthetics, “International Lexicon of Aesthetics”, Autumn 2019 Edition, URL = https://lexicon.mimesisjournals.com/archive/2019/autumn/GustatoryAesthetics.pdf, DOI: 10.7413/18258630072.

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

Teaching methods

Lectures, conversations and discussions with students.

Assessment methods

The exam will be in the written form of a paper, to be submitted to the professors at least 15 days before the examination date. The paper must be 4000-5000 words long and must deal with a topic that the students will have to agree upon with the professors in advance.

The assessment will examine the students’ 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; general orientation on the main features and aspects of contemporary aesthetic culture. 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 summarize 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 displays significant errors in his understanding and failure to grasp the overall outlines of the subject, together with a poor command of the appropriate terminology.

Teaching tools

During the lecture course we will use power point slides concerning the lecture course's texts and main topics.

Office hours

See the website of Stefano Marino

See the website of Gioia Laura Iannilli