(in Polish) The Aesthetics of the Sublime. Selected Issues WNHS-HS-TAS
1. “The catastrophe that happened to beauty”.
- Reasons of the marginalization of the notion of beauty as an aesthetic category in the 20th century;
- contemporary sources of kalloclastic/kalllophobic attitudes;
- the meaning of the XXth century history and cultural changes for
contemporary aesthetics
- alternative / competitive aesthetic categories: irony, ugliness, the
sublime, the lack
- a category of beauty in the guise of other categories.
2. Is the sublime now?
- modern return of the late-antique aesthetic category;
- the sublime in the writings of postmodern philosophers (Lyotard,
Derrida);
- romantic vs postmodern sublime;
- the sublime and postromantic iconography;
- the sublime and the negative representation;
- unimaginable, unrepresentable, inexpressible and the sublime
- contemporary proliferation of the sublime in art and art theory
3. How to overcome the domination of distance
- the idea of distance in modern aesthetics;
- the role of disinterestedness in modern aesthetic experience;
- Arnold Berleant’s “Aesthetic engagement”;
- Nicolas Bourriaud’s relational aesthetics;
- inadequacy of the idea of a distance in the Anthropocene epoch.
4. Nature in art
- is the division natural/cultural still valid?
- The modern and postmodern idea of landscape
- The place of a landscape in contemporary art
- Aesthetics of Anthropocene
5. Catastrophe as an aesthetic issue
- Is the representation of a catastrophe possible?
- Catastrophe as a new beginning
6. The possibility of aesthetics after Holocaust
- Adorno and his comments on Holocaust;
- “Saint Paul” Godard against “Moses” Lanzmann;
- Georges Didi-Huberman’s “images in spite of all” as a strong voice in
the debate around the representation of the Holocaust;
- Memorials and antimemorials of the Holocaust
(in Polish) E-Learning
(in Polish) Grupa przedmiotów ogólnouczenianych
Subject level
Learning outcome code/codes
Type of subject
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Class participation 15 hours
Own work with literature approx. 50 hours
Preparation of presentation approx. 25 hours
TOTAL approx. 90
ECTS 3
Assessment criteria
Attendance and participation:
Active participation in class discussions is expected and appreciated.
More than 2 unexcused absences will result in no credit for attendance.
Course grading:
The semester end’s with a student’s 20-25 minute long illustrated presentation
on a selected theoretical issue related to the notion of the sublime.
The attendance and active participation in classes will be also taken into
consideration
Bibliography
Basic readings:
E. Brady, The Sublime in Modern Philosophy: Aesthetics, Ethics, and Nature,
2013
E. Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, various editions
J. Elkins, Against the sublime, [in:] Beyond the Finite: The Sublime in Art and Science, R. Hoffman i I. B. White (ed.), 2011
J.-F. Lyotard, The Sublime and the Avant-Garde, 1985.
B. Newman, The Sublime is Now, "Tiger's Eye", vol.1, no.6, 1948, pp.51–3. (also available in the internet)
P. Shaw , The Sublime, 2006
Further reading:
G. Agamben, Remnants of Auschwitz: The Witness and the Archive, 1998
H. Belting, An Anthropology of Images: Picture, Medium, Body, 2011
A. Berleant, Beyond disinterestedness, 1994
A. Berleant, Art and Engagement, 1991.
P. de Bolla, The Discourse of the Sublime. Readings in History, Aesthetics and the Subject, 1989
T. Costelloe, The Sublime: From Antiquity to the Present, 2012
P. Crowther, The Kantian Sublime: From Morality to Art, 1989.
A. Danto, The Abuse of Beauty, 2003.
G. Didi-Huberman, Images in spite of all, 2003.
C. Duffy, The Landscapes of the Sublime 1700-1830: Classic Ground, 2013
H. Foster (ed.), The Anti-Aesthetic. Essays on Postmodern Culture, 1983.
W. J. Hipple , The Beautiful, the Sublime and the Picturesque in Eighteenth-Century British Aesthetic Theory, 1957
I. Kant, The Critique of Judgment, various editions
C. Korsmeyer, Terrible beauties, [in:] Contemporary Debates in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art, Matthew Kieran (ed.), 2005
K. E. Lokke Kari Elise, The Role of Sublimity in the Development of Modern Aesthetics, „The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism”, 1982, 40/4, pp. 421-429
E. Prettejohn, Beauty and Art. 1750–2000, 2005
P. Virillio, Speed and Politics: An Essay on Dromology, 1977 [1986]
M. Rind, The concept of disinterestedness in eighteenth-century British aesthetics, 2002
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: