In the attempt to think through what is real, and in response to social and intellectual crises, philosophy elaborates ever new ways to see and understand our world. Philosophy, then, is always a call to courage and creativity. In this year-long course on philosophy, we study the history of western philosophy, keeping an eye on the way in which philosophy comports itself in relation to the bodily and the sensual and in relation to art and beauty.
We begin the spring semester with a study of Immanuel Kant's ethics, turning then to his theory of art. What is the feeling of beauty all about? Is aesthetic taste wholly subjective, or just the opposite? Afterwards, we look at Hegel's and Goethe's bold attempts to overcome the alienation between appearances and ultimate reality that was posited by Kant. We close by asking whether art has the power to change not only how we see, but also how we live, both individually and in community. James Baldwin and Toni Morrison bring these issues home.
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