2014 Syllabus
PHL 360-400:
Philosophy and the Arts
Instructor Information
Dr. S. Jenkins
stephanie.jenkins@oregonstate.edu
http://oregonstate.edu/cla/shpr/stephanie-jenkins
Course Description
Course will cover major philosophical theories about art and its meaning, from ancient to modern times. Topics will include how philosophers have understood beauty, the imagination, art and knowledge, art and pleasure, art and emotion. Please note: this offering of PHL 360 is a special section of “Philosophy and the Arts” that will explore course content in the context of Phish’s 2014 Summer Tour. There is a required experiential component for which students will “attend” 3 concerts in person or electronically.
Learning Resources
Bicknell, Why Music Moves Us, 2010. ISBN: 0230209904
Attendance, in person or virtually, at 3 Phish 2014 Summer Tour concerts
For ticket and tour information, visit: http://phish.com/tours/summer-2014/
For webcasting information (TBA), visit: http://livephish.com
Streaming media
Microphone (recommended)
Additional reading assignments (available via Blackboard)
Blackboard
This course will be delivered via Blackboard where you will interact with your classmates and with your instructor. Within the course Blackboard site you will access the learning materials, such as the syllabus, class discussions, assignments, and projects. To preview how an online course works, visit the Ecampus Course Demo. For technical assistance, please visit Ecampus Technical Help.
Measurable Student Learning Outcomes
- Recognize and define key philosophical concepts in philosophy of art and music
- Identify and communicate the main arguments, problems, and themes in assigned course readings through written responses
- Analyze and critically respond to philosophical arguments
- Apply conceptual tools to critically interpret and evaluate examples of contemporary musical using philosophical analysis
- Reinterpret and synthesize experiences with live musical performance using philosophical tools to provide greater meaning and significance to those experiences.
Evaluation of Student Performance
Term grades are based on the following scale.
| Grade | Percentage | Grade | Percentage |
| A | 93-100% | C | 73-76% |
| A- | 90-92% | C- | 70-72% |
| B+ | 87-89% | D+ | 67-69% |
| B | 83-86% | D | 63-66% |
| B- | 80-82% | D- | 60-62% |
| C+ | 77-79% | F | Below 60% |
Points are earned from the following sources:
- Discussions [8 total]: 50 points each, 400 total
- Reflective Reading responses [8 total]: 100 points each, 800 total
- Concert field notes [3 total]: 100 points each, 300 total
Total possible: 1500 points
Course Content
| Week | Topic | Reading Assignments | Learning Activities | Due Dates |
| 1 | Introductions &Musical Ontology | Tolstoy, “What is Art?”Bicknell, Preface
Kania, “Making Tracks”
Assorted links
|
Online discussion;Reading response #1 | First post due Wed., second and third posts due by FridayReading response due Fri. |
| 2 | Aesthetics | Kant, “Analytic of the Beautiful”Gracyk, Chapter 4
Hanslick, Chapter 3
Assorted links
|
Online discussion;Reading response #2 | First post due Wed., second and third posts due by FridayReading response due Fri.
[Fieldnotes due 48 hours after concert] |
| 3 | Music as World | Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy & Ecce Homo excerpts Cox, “Nietzsche, Dionysus, and the Ontology of Music”
Assorted links
|
Online discussion;Reading response #3 | First post due Wed., second and third posts due by FridayReading response due Fri.
[Fieldnotes due 48 hours after concert] |
| 4 | Musical Affect | Bicknell, Chapters 3 & 4DeChaine, “Affect & Embodied Understanding in Musical Experience”
Assorted links
|
Online discussion;Reading response #4 | First post due Wed., second and third posts due by FridayReading response due Fri.
[Fieldnotes due 48 hours after concert] |
| 5 | Sublime | Bicknell, Chapters 1, 2, & 7Kant, Critique of Judgment excerpts
Assorted links
|
Online discussion;Reading response #5 | First post due Wed., second and third posts due by FridayReading response due Fri.
[Fieldnotes due 48 hours after concert] |
| 6 | Community | Bicknell, Chapters 5 & 6Drabinski, “The Everyday Miracle of the Occasional Community”
Assorted links
|
Online discussion;Reading response #6 | First post due Wed., second and third posts due by FridayReading response due Fri.
[Fieldnotes due 48 hours after concert] |
| 7 | Music, Life, & Value | Bicknell, ConclusionHiggins, “Music or the Mistaken Life”
Foucault & Boulez, “Contemporary Music and the Public”
Assorted links
|
Online discussion;Reading response #7 | First post due Wed., second and third posts due by FridayReading response due Fri.
[Fieldnotes due 48 hours after concert] |
| 8 | Politics | Alperson & Carroll, “Music, Morality, & Mind”Thompson, “Thoreau-ing Stones”
Foucault, “Of Other Spaces”
Assorted links
|
Online discussion;Reading response #8 | First post due Wed., second and third posts due by FridayReading response due Fri.
[Fieldnotes due 48 hours after concert] |
Philosophy School of Phish 