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Philosophy of Art

Code: 100290 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Philosophy FB 1

Contact

Name:
Jessica Patrici Jaques Pi
Email:
jessica.jaques@uab.cat

Teachers

Gerard Vilar Roca
Andrea Lorena Soto Calderon
Daniela Callejas Aristizabal
(External) Laura Vilar Dolç

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

There are no further requirements apart from the common access requirements for the Philosophy BA.


Objectives and Contextualisation

The course aims to immerse students in the Philosophy of Art and, from there, in Philosophy in general, and a first familiarization with the vocabulary, the argument, the texts, the creative processes from a hybridization of discourses and practices. The field is that of applied aesthetics, in an effort for professionalization in philosophical-artistic projects with an impact in the public sphere.

Objectives

The general objective of the subject is that the student knows and is passionate about the area of intersection between art and philosophy, that is: to discover the philosophical potential of the arts, as well as the transitivity between the discourse on these and the creative activity, which we will name poiesis: a doing from the discourse, and a discourse from the practice. It is for this reason that the subject belongs vocationally to applied aesthetics.

The specific objectives of the subject are:

  1. Developing the students' passion for the arts and other aesthetic practices
  2. Acquiring arguments and vocabulary to understand and explain the philosophical potential of the arts and the creative potential of philosophy
  3. Knowing some fundamental readings for objectives 1 and 2
  4. Getting to know the fundamental periods of the confluence between art and philosophy, as well as the affinities with other kinds of knowledge
  5. Understanding some creative processes of the confluence between art and philosophy
  6. Knowing the main tensions between art, science and philosophy
  7. Understanding art as a place of construction and destruction of the public sphere
  8. Cultivating the aesthetic sense of the students as a requisite for knowledge and openness to the world, as well as for the passion for the arts
  9. Developing first configurations of projects in applied aesthetics
  10. Projection, if appropriate, of the knowledge of the subject to future TFG and other research and projects of thestudent

Competences

  • Recognising and interpreting topics and problems of philosophy in its various disciplines.
  • Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
  • Thinking in a critical and independent manner on the basis of the specific topics, debates and problems of philosophy, both historically and conceptually.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Applying philosophical rigour in a written text following the international quality standards.
  2. Arguing about several issues and philosophical problems for the purpose of different works and the assessment of the results.
  3. Autonomously searching, selecting and processing information both from structured sources (databases, bibliographies, specialized magazines) and from across the network.
  4. Correctly drawing up a previously analysed non-regulatory text.
  5. Distinguishing and analysing representative texts of the main genres of the philosophical literature.
  6. Distinguishing the topics of philosophical relevance in current debates.
  7. Effectively communicating and applying the argumentative and textual processes to formal and scientific texts.
  8. Establishing relationships between science, philosophy, art, religion, politics, etc.
  9. Explaining the specific notions of the History of Philosophy.
  10. Expressing both orally and in written form, the issues and basic problems of the philosophical tradition.
  11. Organizing their own time and work resources: designing plans with priorities of objectives, calendars and action commitments.
  12. Reading basic philosophical text thoroughly.
  13. Recognising, with a critical eye, philosophical referents of the past and present and assessing its importance.
  14. Relating several ideas of the current philosophical debates.
  15. Rewriting the stance of a typical philosophical author in a clear and precise manner.
  16. Submitting works in accordance with both individual and small group demands and personal styles.
  17. Summarizing the main arguments of the analysed philosophical texts.
  18. Using suitable terminology when drawing up an academic text.

Content

The subject is presented in sixteen units in three thematic modules. There are sexteen compulsory readings, one per week. Their extension is usually limited.

Basic information about the subject will be found on the virtual campus. However, the subject materials and detailed information will be found at: http://greta.cat/grau

 

MODULE I. Aesthetic practices and the origin of philosophy

           1. Ignorance as a philosophical requirement [* 1 RANCIÈRE, J., El maestro ignorante, chap. one]

           2. From Androgen to the deconstruction of gender [* 2 PLATO, Symposium: the "Androgen Myth"]

           3. The desire for beauty and its subversive capacity: appearance, presence, event [* 3 PLATO, Symposium: "Discourse of Diotima"; ** 2 Desire in times of war: PICASSO, The desire caught by the tail] / Theater and philosophy: poiesis and catharsis; Clashes of genres and roles [** 1 ARISTÓFANES, Lysistrata]

            4. The dialogical creativity [*4 PLATO, Hipias mayor]

            5. Friendship [* 5 ARISTOTLE, book VIII of Nicomachean Ethics]

            6. Aesthetic practices and discursive practices: ecosystems and ethologies

MODULE II. The aesthetic practices and the late Enlightenment

            7. Sapere aude and the hegemony of the imagination [* 6 KANT, I., What is the Enlightenment?; ** 3 SWIFT, J., Gulliver's Travels; **4 VALLE INCLÁN, Luces de Bohemia]

            8. The encyclopedic project. Taste as the faculty of judgment [**5 VOLTAIRE, "Taste", Encyclopédie; **6 D'ALEMBERT, J. l R., "Preliminary Speech to the Encyclopedia]

            9. The political foundation of aesthetics [*7 KANT, I., Critique of the judgment § 40 i 60; *8 JAQUES, J. The aesthetic sense; **7 DELFOE, D., Robinson Crusoe]

            10. One's own life as a political creative project. The origin of the activist manifestos [* 9 Olympe de Gouges, Declaration of the rights of women and citizens; ** 8 Wollstonecraft, M., Vindication of women's rights]

            11. Art and Revolution. Freedom, Equality, Fraternity. Aesthetic ideas and the faculties for creativity [* 10 KANT, I., Critique of judgment §§ 46-49]

MODULE III. Aesthetic practices and contemporaneity

            12. Inexhaustibility, creativity, ritual and failure [* 11 BALZAC, H., The unknown Masterpiece; ** 9 VALÉRY, P., Eupalinos or the architect]

            13. Otherness. [** 10 SARTRE, J-P., Huis clos; * 12 FOUCAULT, M., Heterotopies i el Cuerpo utópico; * 13 of BEAUVOIR, S., The second sex]

            14. The embodiedment of Philosophy [* Bardet, Pensar con la cara]

            15. Creative agents: emancipation, enactivism and indiscipline [* 14 RANCIÈRE, J. The emancipated spectator cap. 1; ** 13 NOË, A., Strange Tools]


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures, seminars, individual tutorials, small group teaching sessions 60 2.4 2, 9, 10, 7, 18, 12, 16, 4, 17
Type: Supervised      
Artistic practice workshops, exhibition visits, artistic events, exams and participation in seminars 52.5 2.1
Type: Autonomous      
Readings, study of contents 28.5 1.14 3, 12, 11

The methodology is neo-Socratic, that is: the generation and transfer of knowledge from the claim of the formative potential of both students and teachers in a dynamic of reverse teaching. This methodology will be developed both in the classroom and in the Peripatetics, a teaching innovation project that consists of routes around the UAB campus where we will discuss the texts of the week. Classes in the classroom and the Peripatetics will alternate according to the Teaching Calendar, which will be presented at the beginning of the course.

The directed activities consist of teaching sessions (in the classroom and in the Peripatetics) with a high incentive for participation.

The supervised activities are formed by the exercise of the aesthetic sense. Likewise, contributions to the written tests and podcasts will be supervised activities, as well as visits to museums and art centers recommended at the beginning of the course and in the attempt for the discursive praxis to accompany a creative praxis according to the procedures of applied aesthetics. Also for a tutoring program in microgroups and individuals.

The autonomous activities have as their essential reference the reading of and the conceptual and application work on the evaluable texts.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
exercices 1 and 2 60% 6.5 0.26 1, 2, 3, 6, 5, 8, 9, 10, 18, 12, 13, 14, 17
Third exam 40 % 2.5 0.1 2, 3, 6, 5, 8, 9, 10, 7, 12, 11, 16, 13, 15, 4, 14

The evaluation will be carried out in two ways:

1. Continuous and evolutionary evaluation.

There will be three mandatory tests. They will consist of:

Tests 1 and 2. Two tests (block 1 and block 2 respectively) t delivered digitally from the student's institutional email. For the first test, the student will have chosen a creative practice - own or someone else's -, which he will try to maintain in the three tests. The goal is to learn to write philosophically about an artistic fact. Tests will be sent to students by email one week before delivery. If there is no force majeure, the tests will be corrected at least one day before the delivery of the questions of the next one. Optionally, the student can choose to include their own aesthetic practices that are linked to their writing (photography, music, dance, illustration, painting, and others; any creative practice); this does not mean a higher grade than the student who does not. Maximum 1000 words.

Test 3: fer un podcast  com a mestre ignorant del tercer bloc.

Calendar: 

The Department of Philosophy agreed that the first-semester students would have two periods dedicated to assessment activities and one week during which students could specifically prepare for the exams, in the format that each instructor will specify at the beginning of the course. The dates for the review week and the assessment periods are:

  • October 27 – October 31: review or tutorial week
  • November 3 – November 7: assessment week, being the 7th November the deadline for exam 1
  • January 8, 9, 12, 13, 14: assessment week, beeing de 8th January the deadline for exam 2 and the 14th the deadline for delivering the podcast. 


2. Single assessment:

The single assessment will be organized based on three tests that will take place on the same day. The evidence for each test is as follows:

Exercise 1 and 2. Two exams (block 1 and block 2 respectively)  delivered digitally from the student's institutional mail. For the first test, the student will have chosen a creative practice - own or someone else's -, which he will try to maintain in the three tests. Optionally, the student can choose to include their own aesthetic practices that are linked to theirwriting (photography, music, dance, illustration, painting, and others; any creative practice); this does not mean a higher grade than the student who does not. Maximum 1000 words. Test 1: 30% final mark; Test 2: 30% final mark.

Exercise 3:Podcast about one of the subjects of the third module. 
The three exercices will be delivered the same day at the end of the semester. 

 

Both in the case of continuous evaluation and single evaluation, deliveries will be made electronically to the address <filosofiadelart@gmail.com>.

 

If the student is in a digital gap situation, he is invited to inform the teacher during the month of September and an institutional solution will be proposed.

The average between the three tests will not be taken, but a personalized monitoring of each student's process. In this process, care will be taken to improve the writing and the grade of the third exercise will be the final of the subject; the other two will be indicative.

The recovery, with a date and place set by the Faculty, is reserved for students who have not taken one of the three tests (it is mandatory to take 2/3) or who do not have a final grade of 5. The work to be done by each student towards recovery will be tutored.

The student's grade will be "non-evaluable" when at the end of the evaluation process he has not taken one, two or three of the tests.

 Erasmus students who request to advance an exam must present the teacher with a document from their home university that justifies their request.

The evaluation criteria will be:

The relevant selection of topics to be discussed when raising the main questions of the philosophy of art based on a work or other type of aesthetic reference

Argumentative clarity

The appropriate use of vocabulary linked to the subject

Demonstrating understanding of the content proposed in the theoretical sessions

Demonstrating understanding of the contents of the compulsory readings

The correction of the writing style

The ability to discuss withthe group and about the texts.

The audacity in the appropriation of the contents (sapere aude), that is to say, the appropriation of the contents and the development of creativity.

 

Plagiarism would give rise to careful training awareness work. It is worth saying that the relevant regulations say: "In the event that the student commits any irregularity that could lead to a significant variation in the grade of an assessment act, this assessment act will be graded with 0, regardless of of the disciplinary process that may be instituted there. In the event that several irregularities occur in the evaluation acts of the same subject, the final grade for that subject will be 0".

The review of each test will be carried out during regular office hours in the period between this and the next test. The overall ordinary review of the subject will be held on a specific day that will be indicated in January, and will be in office B 7-112.

 
All important indications will be written in Moodle, to leave a public written record.

Bibliography

1. Compulsory readings [marked * in the program]

[1] RANCIÈRE, J., El maestro ignorante. Barcelona, Laertes, 2003 (Le maître ignorant 1987, Cap 1)

[2] PLATÓ, Banquet. Barcelona, Ed. 62, 1998,  “Mite de l’Andrògin” (189e-193e)

[3] PLATÓ, Banquet. Barcelona, Ed. 62, 1998, el “Discurs de Diotima” (201d-212 b).

[4] PLATÓ, Hipias Major. Madrid, Gredos. 

[5]  ARISTÒTIL, llibre VIII de l’Ètica nicomaquea, Fundació Bernat Metge.

[6] KANT, I., ¿Qué es la Ilustración?. Barcelona, Paidós, 1989 (Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung?(1784)

[7] JAQUES, Jèssica., "El sentit estètic", Disturbis 8. http://www.disturbis.esteticauab.org/Disturbis234/Jaques.html

[8] KANT, I., Crítica de la facultat de jutjar, §§ 40 i 60. Barcelona, Ed. 62., 2004 (Kritik der Urteilskraft, 1790).

[9] Olympe de GOUGES, Declaració dels drets de la dona i de la ciutadana (1791). <http://www.culturamas.es/blog/2012/09/07/declaracion-de-los-derechos-de-la-mujer-y-de-la-ciudadana-1791-por-olympe-de-gouges/>

[10] KANT, I., Crítica de la facultat de jutjar, §§ 46-49. Barcelona, Ed. 62., 2004 (Kritik der Urteilskraft, 1790).

[11] BALZAC, H., L'obra mestre desconeguda . Barcelona, Quaderns Crema, 2018. (Le chef d'oeuvre inconnu, 1831)

[12] FOUCAULT, M. "¿Qué es la Ilustración?" Daimon. Revista de Filosofia 1993, n 7, 5-18

[13] HARAWAY, Donna, Cuando las especies se encuentran (When Species meet). Tabula Rasa, 31, 23-75

[14] de BEAUVOIR, Simone, El segundo sexo. Madrid,Diálogo, 2012 [Le deuxième sexe. 1941] 

[15] BARDET, Marie., Perder la cara. México, Cactus, 2021. 

[16] RANCIÈRE, J.  El espectador emancipado.Barcelona, Ed. Ellago, 2010 [Le spectateur émancipé, 2008]

 

2. Highly Recommended Readings [marked ** in the program]

ARISTÒFANES, Lisístrata. Fundació Bernat Metge. (Trad. Josep Montserrat)

PICASSO, El desig atrapat per la cua. Barcelona–Madrid, Museu Picasso de Barcelona–La Fábrica, 2018. (Trad. Jèssica Jaques; Le désir attrapé par la queue, 1944)

PLATÓ, Hipias major. Fundació bernat Metge.

SWIFT, J., Els viatges de Gulliver. Galaxia Gütemberg, 2006 [Gulliver’s Travels, 1726] 

[6] VALLE INCLÁN, Luces de Bohemia, Madrid, Austral, 2010.

 VOLTAIRE, Jean Françoisois-Marie Arouet de Voltaire, « Goût ». "Taste." In The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert, Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by  Thomas Cassirer. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Library, 2003. Originally published as"Goût," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonnedes sciences, des arts et des metiers(Paris 1757, Vol. 7. pp. 761-77). <https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/L%E2%80%99Encyclop%C3%A9die/1re_%C3%A9dition/GOUT>

D'ALEMBERT, J. l R., "Discours préliminaire" à l'Encyclopédie <https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/L%E2%80%99Encyclop%C3%A9die/1re_%C3%A9dition/Discours_pr%C3%A9liminaire>

JAQUES, Jèssica. "El sentit estètic". Disturbis 3, http://www.disturbis.esteticauab.org/Disturbis234/Jaques.html

DELFOE, D., Robinson Crusoe. Barcelona, La Galera, 2009 [1719]

WOLLSTONECRAFT, Marie, Vindicación de los derechos de la mujer.Madrid,Akal, 2014 [Vindication of the Rights of Women, 1792]

VALÉRY, P., Eupalinos o l’arquitecte.Barcelona, Quaderns Crema, 1983 [Eupalinos ou l’architecte, 1921).

FOUCAULT, "Topologías", Fractal 2006 [1967]. y FLUSSER, V. Hacía una filosofía de la fotografía. Méjico D.F., Sigma, 1990.

[14] de BEAUVOIR, Simone, El segundo sexo. Madrid, Diálogo, 2012 [Le deuxième sexe. 1941]

[15] NOË, A.,StrangeTools.<http://www.alvanoe.com/strange-tools/>

3. Further Readings

NIETZSCHE, F.,El naixement de la Tragèdia. Madrid, Alianza Editorial, 1995(DieGeburd der Tragödie 1872).

REZA, Yazmina, Arte. Anagrama 1999 (Art, 1994)

YOURCENAR, Marguerite, Memòries d’Adrià. Barcelona, ed. 62, 2007 (Mémoires d’Hadrien, 1951)

WILDE, O.El retrato de Dorian Grey. Imaginador,Buenos Aires (The Picture of Doran Grey)1890).

4.  Selected secondary bibliography

ARNHEIM, R., Arte y percepción visual, Alianza Forma, Madrid, 2002

BARASCH, Moshe, Teorías del Arte: De Platón a Winckelmann, Alianza, Madrid, 1991; Modern Theories of Art, 1: From Winckelmann to Baudelaire, New York

University Press, New York, 1990; Modern Theories of Art, 2: From Impressionism to Kandinsky,New York University press, New York and London, 1998.

BOZAL, Valeriano, Historia de las ideas estéticas I i II, Historia 16, Madrid 1998; (ed.), Historia de las ideas estéticas y de las teorías artísticas contemporáneas. Visor, Madrid, 1996.

CARROLL, N.,  Philosophy of Art. Routledge, 1999.

CASACUBERTA, D., Nueve escollos para entender la cultura digital

Enrahonar:Quaderns de filosofía, ISSN 0211-402X, Nº 32-33, 2001, pags. 235-244

DAVIS, s., The Philosophy of Art. Blackwell, 2006.

DANTO, Arthur C., El abuso de la belleza. La estética y elconcepto del arte. Paidós, Barcelona, 2005.

DANTO,A.,  “Laobra de arte y el futuro histórico”, La madonna del futuro. Paidós, Barcelona, 2003(2000).

DANTO, Artur, Las transfiguraciones del lugar común.Barcelona, Paidós 2002

FISHER, E., La necesidad del arte. Barcelona,Nexos, 1993 (1959)

GAUT, B. _LOPES, D. (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics. Second Edition, Routledge, 2005.

GOMBRICH, E. H., Breve historia de la cultura, Ediciones Península, Barcelona, 2004.

GOMBRICH, E. H., La historia del arte. Madrid, Phaidon (1950).

GOMBRICH, E. H., Art and Illusion. London, Phaidon Press (1985). Chapters 3 and 10.

GUASCH, Anna Maria (coord.), La crítica de arte, Ediciones del Serbal, Barcelona, 2003.

JAUSS, H. R., Pequeña apología de la experiencia estética. Barcelona, Paidós,2002 (1972)

JIMENEZ, M.,  ¿Qué es la estética?, Barcelona, Idea Books, 1999.

JIMÉNEZ, J.,Teoría del Arte, Tecnos, Madrid, 2002.

KELLY, M., (ed.), Oxford Enciclopedia of  Aesthetics, 1998. 2a edició, 2014.

KIERAN, M., (ed.), ContemporyDebates in Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art. Blackwell, 2006.

KRIS, E. i KURZ, O., La Leyenda del artista, EnsayosArte Cátedra, Madrid, 1982.

LAMARQUE,P.,– H. OLSEN, H., (eds.), Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art. The Analytic Tradition. An Anthology.  Oxford, Blackwell, 2004.

LYNCH, Enrique, Sobrela belleza. Anaya, Madrid, 1999.

LEVINSON, J.,Oxford Handbook ofAesthetics. 2003.

LORCA, F. G. Piero Menarini, ed. El maleficio de la mariposa. Cátedra, Madrid, 2003.

MURRAY, Chris, Key Writers on art: From Antiquity to the Ninetenth Century, Routledge,Londonand new York, 2003; Pensadores clave sobre el arte:el siglo XX. Ensayos arteCátedra, Madrid 2006.

SHINER, Larry, La invención del arte, Paidós Estética 36, Barcelona, 2004.

RAMIREZ, Juan Antonio, Ecosistema y explosión de las artes. Anagrama, Barcelona 1994.

TATARKIEWICZ, E.,  Historia  de  seis  ideas. Madid, Taurus, 1987 (1976)

VALVERDE, J. M., Breve historia y antología de la estética, Barcelona, Ariel.

VILAR, G.,  Las razones del arte. Madrid, Antonio Machado, 2005.

5. Online sources

greta.cat/grau

www.disturbis.net

https://vimeo.com/instituthumanitatsbcn

www.museupicasso.bcn.es

http://fundaciomiro-bcn.org

http://www.macba.cat

www.fundaciotapies.org

www.museoreinasofia.es

www.museodelprado.es

www.tate.org.uk/modern

www.centrepompidou.fr

www.palaisdetokyo.com

www.moma.org

https://www.edx.org/

http://www.canal-u.tv/producteurs/universite_de_tous_les_savoirs

https://www.ted.com/talks

https://www.franceculture.fr/

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arte


Software

No software is needed.


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Catalan/Spanish first semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan/Spanish first semester morning-mixed