Reading Presentation: Nearly each Wednesday, two+ students will begin class by presenting (≈10 minutes each) their Journal Précis and proposing an opening question or two for class discussion. Each will select or be assigned a reading and day to present; the presenters may work individually or collaborate.
Assignment Evaluation:
Reading Presentation: evaluated by quality of content (clear, accurate summary and discussion questions evidencing thoughtful reflection), and of presentation (effective communication of summary and questions and attentive to generated discussion). The presentation will be worth 15% of your final grade.
TIPS:
PRÉCIS: ideally, aim to clearly convey the reading’s main message/thesis and explain how this is explained in the text, also try to include textual and personally evaluative remarks on key features, e.g., style or method, goal, key examples, terminology, etc.. Remember, the class does not have the benefit of visually seeing your précis (unless you wish to make copies or write it on the board) ... so, if your synopsis is composed of bullets, fragments, an outline, etc., explain beforehand (e.g., “I have outlined the reading into three main topics,” etc.), or you may wish to translate your informal entry into a narrative script.
DISCUSSION QUESTION: a good question will generate good discussion--not just an answer, surplus of unrelated answers, or silent perplexity, therefore they need to be neither too broad or vague, nor too narrow or specific.
E.g., Too Broad: "What is the meaning of art?"--too many overly-diverse, excessively long responses possible; a surplus of possible answers often pushes people to silence.
Better version: "How can we use the three rules for judging art in the reading to propose what the meaning of art is for the author?"
E.g., Too Vague: "What do you all think of the reading?"--rather ineffective since it will likely generate one-word answers ("good," "hard," "cool," "ugh," "wow," etc.).
Better versions: "Since the author's point concerns privileging personal experience in art appreciation, what are your personal aesthetic experiences of reading, and can we find similarity between them?" Or, "last week, we discussed the relation of form and content, so, what are your opinions on the reading's style, and how do they relate to his thesis?" Or, "let's construct the best argument agreeing with the thinker's position, and the best against it."
E.g., Too Narrow: "Why is Glaucon's third example from the Iliad and not the Odyssey?"--while it could be an interesting question, querying one of many examples from a secondary character limits possible discussion to too narrow a ground when the selection's focus spans Plato's discussions on the ideal city, censorship of the poets, mimesis and the educative effects of art, and analysis of musico-poetic structures.
Better version: "What does the limited range of works selected for Plato's examples say about his ideas of censorship and ideal structure of art?"
E.g., Too Specific: "According to Hegel, on p. 35, what is the meaning of art?"--adherence to the reading is good, but not if it is only asking for the regurgitation of something within it.
Better version: "Hegel proposes, on p. 35, the meaning of art; how can we understand his two distinct topics, the rules for judgment and the hierarchy of the arts, to each and together lead to this conclusion on the meaning of art?"
Presentation Schedule:
(Will be Updated)
Presentation Schedule: January Judgements of Beauty & Sublimity: W. 24: Kant’s Critique of Judgment, ‘Analytic of the Sublime,’ in A&S, §§23-28, pp. 113-120: (1) _______________________________________ (2) _______________________________________ Jean-François Lyotard’s “What is Postmodernism?”, in A&S, pp. 559-564: (3) _______________________________________
W. 31: Kant’s Critique of Judgment, ‘Deduction’ in A&S, §§31-Remark, pp. 120-127: (1) _______________________________________ (2) _______________________________________ Kant’s Critique of Judgment, ‘Genius,’ in A&S, §§46-49, pp. 128-133: (3) _______________________________________ (4) _______________________________________
February Near or Far? Consummatory Principle & Psychical Distance: W. 7: (1) Stephen Pepper’s The Work of Art, in A&S, pp. 326-330: (1) ___________________________________ (2) Edward Bullough’s “‘Psychical Distance’ as a Factor in Art and as an Aesthetic Principle,” in A&S, pp.457-467: (2) ___________________________________
Emotional Expression / Expression of Emotions: W. 14: (1) R. G. Collingwood’s Principles of Art, in A&S, pp.191-201: (1) _________________________________________ (2) Tolstoy’s “What is Art?”, in A&S, pp. 177-181: (2) _________________________________________
Synesthesia & Catharsis W. 21: (1) Wassily Kandinsky’s “Concrete Art,” in A&S, pp. 673-676: (1) ______________________________________
(2) Lev Vygotsky’s The Psychology of Art, in A&S, pp. 521-523. (2) _______________________________________
Significant Form & Sensation Itself: W. 28: (1) Clive Bell’s Art, in A&S, pp. 185-190: (1) ______________________________________
(2) Kasimir Malevich’s “Suprematism,” in A&S, pp. 667-672. (2) _______________________________________
March Imaginative Experience: “doing and undergoing, outgoing and incoming energy” W. 14: (1) John Dewey’s Art as Experience, in A&S, pp.204-211: (1) ________________________________________ (2) John Dewey’s Art as Experience, in A&S, pp.211-220: (2) _________________________________________
The Analysis of Pure Experience of Order: W. 21: (1) Michel Foucault’s The Order of Things, in A&S, Preface-#1, pp. 440-447: (1) _______________________________________ (2) Michel Foucault’s The Order of Things, in A&S, #2, pp. 447-454: (2) _______________________________________
Shots & Wholes: M. 26: Bela Balazs’ “The Close-Up,” on Blackboard, pp.52-59: (1) ________________________________________
April Futurism as Politico-Artistic Revolution:
W. 4: (1) F. T. Marinetti’s “Futurist Painting: Technical Manifesto,” in A&S, pp. 656-660: (1) __________________________________________
(2) Umberto Boccioni’s “Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture,” in A&S, pp.661-666. (2) __________________________________________
Power: Fetish. Effects: Regression: W. 11: Theodor W. Adorno’s “On the Fetish-Character in Music …,” in A&S, pp. 539-547: (1) ___________________________________________ (2) ___________________________________________
Art as Liberator: W. 18: Herbert Marcuse’s The Aesthetic Dimension, in A&S, pp. 548-557: (1) _________________________________________ (2) _________________________________________