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MA in History and Philosophy of Art
This is a one year, taught programme with a range of optional modules on topics in contemporary philosophy of art and the history of aesthetics.
It is suitable for graduates interested in developing their understanding of the arts, the theory of art and the history of aesthetics. It also suits graduates preparing for a research degree in the arts.
Students take three required modules (Topics in Contemporary Aesthetics, Introduction to Research in Philosophy of Art and Aesthetics) and write a 15,000 word dissertation as well as a range of optional modules
For further information about the MA Philosophy of Art & Aesthetics, please contact Michael Newall
- Topics in Contemporary Aesthetics
- This module examines a wide range of important and fascinating issues in contemporary aesthetics. It asks what art is, examines responses to this questions – and enquires whether it is a question worth asking in the first place. Other questions it examiners usually include the following: What is the nature of aesthetic experience and of our emotional responses to art? Why do we care so much about the fate of fictional characters? Why is rock music such a part of our lives, and has our culture, that so favours rock over classical music, declined in some way? Is there anything aesthetically wrong with a forgery? Can art improve our lives, and if so how? Are artists subject to a different moral code? What distinctive moral effect, if any, can artworks have on us? And what on earth is the point of public art?
- Introduction to Research in Philosophy of Art and Aesthetics
- This module gives students a deeper understanding of debates, concepts and methods surrounding a selection of focus research areas in the contemporary philosophy of art and aesthetics. The module is team-taught by Dr Jonathan Friday, Dr Hans Maes, Dr Michael Newall and Professor Murray Smith – who are all active philosophers of art. These teachers give introductions to their own areas of research expertise, together giving a broad picture of current research in philosophy of art and aesthetics. Focus research areas usually include topics such as the aesthetics of painting, art and ethics, sentimentality, and the ontology of rock and pop music.
- Dissertation
- The dissertation module gives students the opportunity to write a dissertation of around 15,000 words on a topic of their choosing relating to philosophy of art and aesthetics. The dissertation may focus on ideas central to philosophy of art and aesthetics, or it may examine how such ideas illuminate aspects of culture more broadly. The process of developing a topic and writing the dissertation is closely supported through classes during term 3, and individual meetings with the student's dissertation supervisor. Supervision is usually by staff with direct research expertise in the student's chosen topic. Supervisors in 2011/12 will include Dr Jonathan Friday, Dr Hans Maes, Dr Michael Newall and Professor Murray Smith.
- The Gothic Imagination: English Art and Literature in the Later Middle Ages
- The Gothic Imagination examines the art and literature of England between 1200–1500. The module is structured as a series of case studies, in which relationships between literary texts and works of art are considered in a variety of contexts, including patronage, production, and audience. Topics include the Gawain manuscript, visionary literature and devotional imagery, and the Lollard critique of images. Dr Alixe Bovey, one of the module's teachers, wrote and presented the BBC Four series In Search of Medieval Britain (2008).
- Conceptualising Film
- Conceptualising Film provides students with an in-depth examination of key issues in film theory, approaching them from a distinct perspective associated with an emerging 'paradigm' of theory, namely 'analytic philosophy of film'. The module is organised around a series of sub-themes, including emotion and film, the aesthetics and ethics of film, the nature of photographic and filmic representation, and the ways in which films might themselves act as vehicles for philosophical ideas.
- Varieties of Artifice: The Painting in the Text
NB This module is taught mostly in French.
Varieties of Artifice examines the ways in which certain French writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries seek to populate their texts with ekphrastic or quasi-ekphrastic descriptions of works of art, particularly paintings. It focuses on the treatment of works of art by writers and philosophers such as Diderot, Baudelaire, Merleau-Ponty, Foucault and Deleuze. More
- Thinking Theatre: Theories and Aesthetics of Performance
- Thinking Theatre examines current theories and discourses in the aesthetics of the performing arts. As well as attending lectures/seminars, students visit selected theatre performances in London, Canterbury, or elsewhere, and have the opportunity to directly apply and interlink theoretical reflection with practical observation and experience of theatre and performance.