The course analyzes history of aesthetics authors and themes since antiquity, with particular reference to some key categories such as creation, form, symbol, artistic perception, expressiveness, imagination, imitation, fruition. The aim is to provide students with some notions related to the modern and contemporary historical-artistic debate, in order to understand and deepen the fundamental issues of the discipline and develop autonomous judgments. The aesthetic studies, object of the course, will increase the ability to interpret aesthetic phenomena in general and will develop the student's expressive and argumentative ability. The ability to organize the data provided by the discipline in a critical and creative way will be stimulated and students will be able to relate aesthetic ideas with other fields of knowledge.

According to the Dublin descriptors, students, at the end of the course, will demonstrate:

1. knowledge and understanding skills; ability to elaborate and / or apply original ideas, in a research context;

2. ability to apply knowledge and understanding and ability to solve problems related to new issues;

3. ability to integrate knowledge and to formulate autonomous judgments;

4. ability to communicate one's knowledge clearly and unambiguously to specialist and non-specialist interlocutors;

5. ability to carry out research autonomously.

A - General part (4 ECTS)

The main historical stages of aesthetics: (from Antiquity to the Renaissance, from the Baroque to the eighteenth century, Idealism, Romanticism, Marxism, Neoidealism, Positivism, Evolutionism, Psychological Aesthetics, Linguistics, Semiotics, Human Sciences, Vitalism, Pragmatism, Analytical Aesthetics, Phenomenology, Existentialism, Hermeneutics, Deconstructionism). The themes of aesthetics: beauty, form, symbol, taste, genius, imagination, mimesis, ugly, sublime, tragic.

B - Monographic part (2 ECTS)

- Walter Benjamin: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.

A – General part (4 ECTS)

Text:

- E. Franzini- M. Mazzocut-Mis, Estetica, Milano-Torino, Mondadori, pp. VII-XIX e 1-319.

B ­– Monographic part (2 ECTS)

Texts:

- W. Benjamin: L'opera d'arte nell'epoca della sua riproducibilità tecnica, Torino, Einaudi, 2014, pp. 1-100.

- A. Vettese, Si fa con tutto. Il linguaggio dell’arte contemporanea, Bari, Laterza, 2022, pp. 1-164.

Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.

For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).

All the books listed in the programs can be consulted in the Library.