Philosophy

Three projects of aesthetic education. The course aims at analyzing three different projects of aesthetic education. We will start with Friedrich Schiller's attempt of rethinking the aesthetic experience as a process of moral education of the humankind, after the deep transformations occurred with the social and political revolutions of modernity. Art is the organ of this aesthetic education. We will continue by examining John Dewey's aesthetics, read as an attempt of understanding every practice enabling an interaction of growth with the environment as a form of art. We will conclude with considering Walter Benjamin's The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, read as a program of political education of the mass in the perspective of a revolutionary transformation of society. The course will comprehend a seminar devoted to objects and moments of the history of the aesthetic education, focusing on the future of this paradigm in the age of the digital image.

A knowledge corresponding to the level of the bachelor’s degree in philosophy is required. General knowledge of the history of philosophy with special focus on aesthetics.

F. Schiller, The Aesthetic Education (Penguin) J. Dewey, Art as Experience (any available edition; chaps. 1-5) W. Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (Penguin) B. Stiegler, The Discrete Image, in J. Derrida & B. Stiegler, Ecographies of Television (Polity)

Attending the course is highly recommended.

The evaluation consists of an oral examination. The following will be assessed (also during the course) 1. Knowledge and understanding of the text covered by the course, from its most general aspects to its details; in particular, the students' ability to confront a philosophical text and to critically and personally analyse specific aspects of it will be assessed (evaluation points 1-12). 2. The students' ability to express themselves and to master, even in detail, the vocabulary (evaluation points 1-8). 3. Knowledge of the historical context (in relation to the thought of the authors covered by the course and in relation to the history of philosophy in general) (evaluation points 1-5). 4. The capability of original elaboration and personal exploration of the issues addressed (evaluation points 1-5)

Lectures with reconstruction of the context and reading, analysis and commentary of the texts. The original texts will be constantly taken into account. Seminar discussion of the topics covered and possibility of “flipped classroom” experiments.