Readings in Aesthetics and Politics
Spring
2022
Olympia
Day
Freshman - Senior
Credits per quarter
In this seminar-based course, we will be reading works by Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Herbert Brun.
"Aesthetics" is the set of criteria by which a creator guides their work: these criteria point to the future, and not the present.
"Politics" is the set of criteria by which humans guide their current social interactions: they point to the present, and not the future.
To demonstrate their learning, students will be asked to write two 5-page papers, comparing the ideas of these different writers.
The two come together when a creator wishes that their future artwork has a current political function.
Aesthetics raises politics to address as-yet unrealized goals, moving us towards an as-yet unrealized society.
In different ways, the writers we will read address these conflicting ideas of aesthetics and politics. Although they are dead, they
continue to speak to our current problems.
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Course Reference Numbers
Academic details
Performance (Musical, Theatrical)
Music Composition
Theater
The Arts in General
Philosophy