DRCZ206 Filozofie

Theatre Faculty
Winter 2023

The course is not taught in Winter 2023

Extent and Intensity
2/0/2. 2 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Jan Horský, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. MgA. Jan Motal, Ph.D.
Václav Cejpek Directing and Dramaturgy Department – Directing and Dramaturgy Department – Dean’s Office – Theatre Faculty – Janáček Academy of Performing Arts
Supplier department: Václav Cejpek Directing and Dramaturgy Department – Directing and Dramaturgy Department – Dean’s Office – Theatre Faculty – Janáček Academy of Performing Arts
Prerequisites
High school level understanding of philosophy and social sciences.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 6 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
This two-semester course in philosophy aims to introduce students to how art, especially narrative art, has been and is reflected upon by philosophers, anthropologists, psychologists, historians, and other scholars. Students will be introduced to key concepts of art reflection, through which they will learn about the intellectual tradition of thinking about and exploring art that stretches from Plato and Aristotle to contemporary evolutionary biologists. In doing so, students will be guided to think through and answer age-old questions using new tools, whether it is with the aid of a new conceptual apparatus or fMRI. The goal of the course is to awaken the intellectual curiosity of the audience to think through the broader context of art-making and to present both the traditional perspective of the philosophy of art and the latest empirical research illuminating why art affects us as members of the species Homo sapiens in ways that can be observed in theatres across the globe. Students are encouraged to look at art consumers not as disembodied angelic beings but as recipients constituted of flesh, bones, and neurons.
Learning outcomes
After completing the two-semester course, students will be able to:
- be fluent in the basic philosophical and aesthetic categories of Western reflection on art - both classical ones (e.g., theory of mimesis; theory of catharsis; theory of the golden mean; role of the poet in the Greek polis) and those resulting from more recent developments in the field of analytic philosophy of art (definitions of art);
- interpret basic positions within philosophical-scientific inquiry and theorizing about the function and origins of art (e.g., art as a booster of group identity and cohesion, art as a fitness indicator, art as an information storage, etc.);
- analyze and interpret the founding texts of the Western aesthetic tradition (especially Aristotle's Poetics);
- reflect on the deeper, psychological and biological underpinnings of the reception of a work of art on the part of the viewer (e.g., the role of empathy, social cognition, and the internal opioid system in the perception and experience of a work of art), know examples of art that thematizes these insights about human nature (e.g., Ian McEwan), and incorporate them into their own work.
Syllabus
  • The framework of topics discussed in the course:
  • (1) Introduction of the lecturer, course, terms of completion + introductory lecture "Who cares about art? Reflecting on Art in the 21st Century"
  • (2) Art as imitation: The Concept of mimesis
  • (3) Art as a mental catalyst: The Concept of catharsis
  • (4) The Role of the poet in (ancient) society
  • (5) The origin and function of art
  • (6) Definition of art
  • (7) Art and Ethics I: A Philosophical-anthropological perspective
  • (8) Art and Ethics II: The role of empathy and social cognition in art
  • (9) Art and Ethics III: The role of positive (the phenomenon of moral elevation) and negative (the phenomenon of imaginative resistance) moral emotions in shaping audience experience
  • (10) Art and Ethics IV: The role of endorphins in shaping the spectator experience
  • (11) Art and Epistemology
  • (12) Art and Ontology
  • (13) Philosophical and Scientific Reflections in the Works of Selected Authors
Literature
  • • ARISTOTELES. Poetika. Praha: OIKOYMENH, 2008. • PLATÓN. Ústava. Praha: OIKOYMENH, 2017. • CIPORANOV, D. & KULKA, T. Co je umění?: Texty angloamerické estetiky 20. století. Praha: Pavel Mervart, 2011. • DAVIES, S. The Philosophy of Art. Malden: Blackwel
Teaching methods
* Regular classes * Number of hours of direct teaching per week: 2 * Number of hours of independent student work per week: 2
Lectures, interpretive seminars, textual analysis, discussion, self-study.
Assessment methods
Passing the course is dependent on the sum of three values obtained during the semester:
(1) a final test that checks knowledge of the topic (60%); (2) the presentation of a short reflection in the final workshop that presents how the knowledge presented in the course has a potential impact on the student's own artistic production (20%); (3) active participation in lectures and seminars (20%).
Language of instruction
Czech
The course is also listed under the following terms Winter 2016, Winter 2019, Winter 2020, Winter 2021, Winter 2022.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Winter 2023, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.jamu.cz/course/difa/winter2023/DRCZ206