PHIL20630 Art and Society

Academic Year 2020/2021

What is the relationship between art and society? Given the long history of artistic patronage from ancient Rome to contemporary corporate sponsorship of artistic spaces, what is the relationship between art and power? Does owning art confer a different social status than producing art? Does art legitimize given political structures or does it have the power to challenge them? What does the experience of art reveal about the human condition? And why does it bother us when people fail to share our opinions about artworks? In this module, we will examine philosophical accounts of literature, painting, and film & television to investigate this complex relationship between art and society.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this module, students will have:
• A broad understanding of philosophical approaches to art in the continental tradition
• Developed their own capacity to interpret artworks as cultural objects produced at specific socio-historical moments
• Interrogated the relationship between art and political power.

Indicative Module Content:

The course will begin with an overview of classic texts on theories of fine art to provide students with a grounding in aesthetics. It will then primarily focus on twentieth and twenty-first century European philosophers such as: Adorno, Arendt, Berger, Butler, de Certeau, Derrida, Ecco, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty. These thinkers will be read together with case studies of sorts such as paintings, plays, podcasts and so on.

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

20
Tutorial

7
Autonomous Student Learning

98
Total

125
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Students will learn by participating in weekly lectures and small group tutorials.

Due to public health advice on social distancing, all lectures and tutorials will be online. However, they will run 'live' and students are expected to attend the virtual classroom at the appropriate times. Some materials (slides/notes/readings/study questions or similar) will be made available before lectures to allow for more participation in class.

One of the overarching aims of the module is to provide students with philosophical concepts and frameworks to investigate artistic products and practices for themselves. Each section of the course contains both philosophical content and the opportunity to use that content to investigate an area such as painting, drama, television, urban planning and so on.

The end of trimester assessment will either be a long form essay (2,500 words) or a take home exam; this will be decided upon in consultation with students.


 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations
Learning Recommendations:


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Assignment: TBC: Either a long-form essay (2,500-3,000 words) or a 48 hour take home exam Week 12 n/a Graded Yes

60
Essay: One essay of 1,500 words Week 4 n/a Graded Yes

30
Continuous Assessment: Attendance and participation in lectures and tutorials Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No

10

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 
Remediation Type Remediation Timing
In-Module Resit Prior to relevant Programme Exam Board
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback on essays will be provided by the module co-ordinator within three weeks of submission. A dedicated drop-in session for further face to face feedback will also be available.