Graded Assignments:

- Two critical essays, each on some work of art that interests you. Each of these will be submitted as a rough draft. You will receive comments from a classmate, and also from me. To get the two points on your rough draft, you must identify the classmate to whom you provided comments. I will return comments to you, you will revise and submit a final draft. Helpful suggestions for writing criticism, and for your other written assignments, may be found by clicking on the Writing Guides menu entry to the left.

- One final project: see description below. There are many ways to fulfil this assignment; see the website for a longer description and some examples. Rather than make the requirements too narrow, I've chosen to make the process interactive, and help you define your project in stages. This means that I must see your proposal and your rough draft.

- A presentation related to your final project. 5-10 minutes, one or two per day beginning January 31, sign up.

- Two essays, each worth 15 points, where you report on a reading and use its ideas to discuss a particular work of art or aethetic experience.

A word to the wise: Graded assignments get more or less points depending on their quality. You can't do well in the class without doing them well. However, 17 points out of 100 in this course come from ungraded assignments: event reports, rough drafts and proposals. You get one or two points for doing each of these, and lose points for not doing them, regardless of their quality. If you blow off the ungraded assignments, your highest possible grade is a B-.

Reading, Viewing, and Listening Assignments will be made week by week.  Other assignments will be due periodically. See Week by Week below for a list of these asssignments with their due dates. They will also be posted on Blackboard. You are responsible to know what they are, and to keep up with them, whether or not I announce them in class. Please note that the class schedule is likely to change. If it does, just keep submitting your work. I will adjust due dates to match the flow of the class, even if Blackboard says you are late. For January 22, familiarize yourself with the course web-page.  Read the introduction to Larry Shiner's The Invention of Art., and do the viewing assignment on African Art listed in the syllabus. Write about a page summarizing these readings and exhibitions, bring it to class as prep for discussion, and keep it on hand. When assignments are due, use the Blackboard Assignment tool to submit your work. Click "show all" in the bottom right hand corner of the screen to make sure that they are all there. Then scan down until you get to the assignment, open it and submit. You may type your response directly into the submission area (actually easier for me), or you may attach a readable file (.doc, docx, .rtf, .pdf).

Our topic for the introductory sessions (1/17 & 1/22) is the distinction between "fine art" and other arts (craft, popular art, commercial art and design, entertainment, etc.). This distinction and the baggage that comes with it is fundamental to the modern idea of art. Rather than argue about whether to accept it, we will look at its historical origin and its social function. We will also consider what common arts-related practices and propensities are universal in all human cultures. In the following week we will discuss the topics of art as representation and of art and morality.

Deadlines for Written Assignments:

First critical essay                2/7 (rough draft), 2/14 (final draft)
Project proposal                   2/21
Second critical essay           3/7, 3/21
Project rough draft                4/11
Project presentations           1 or 2 per class, beginning 1/31
Project final draft                  4/11
Reading reports                   2/28, 3/28
Event reports      All are due 4/25 (but you don't have to wait until then)

Preparing for class:  Each class session, we will be discussing a topic for which you will prepare by doing an assigned set of readings, as well as by reviewing the course lecture pages for the day, reading the narrative that goes with the images or sounds, and doing some other looking and listening. Start with the narrative on the course lecture pages, then do the readings, and use the reading guide. You will also look for additional examples from various arts that will illustrate the topic, or confirm or refute or expand one of the claims made by an author, or otherwise contribute to the semester's conversation about philosophy and the arts. Please take the looking and listening part of preparation as seriously as you take the reading part, and vice versa.

Getting the most out of the readings: You will find some of the readings difficult to understand. That's because this is a course in the philosophy of art and art criticism, and philosophical writing and thinking is hard intellectual work.  Sometimes philosophers make it harder than it needs to be.  But even the best and clearest writers will still give your brain a workout. Critical discussion about the nature and meaning of the arts, such as that contained in the papers I have assigned, is an essential part of the cultural context within which the arts have their meaning.  I have found the workout worth it; I hope you will too! I will take time in class to clear up the murky parts (but this will not work if you have not first struggled to understand them for yourself). Reading guides for most of the readings (usually power points) are posted in the "Reading Guides" folder on the course website. Many authors also have an entry about them on the course web-site.  Make things easy on yourself; use these aids before tackling the readings. I will not usually assign more than 50 pages a week; often I will assign much less than this amount. I will not assign more than an hour's worth of listening or viewing assignments for any one class.