Syllabus Information

1. General information

The subject and its expected results respond to the following approaches and objectives:

The subject should enhance the development of skills related to the critical understanding of the history, theory and current discourse on aesthetics and art, as well as the thought of theorists and artists through their works and texts. It is also important to identify and understand the problems of art and the aspects that generate creative processes. Likewise, it is intended that students understand and value artistic discourses in relation to their own work, establishing means to compare and relate personal artistic work with the creative context. It is also intended that they understand and critically evaluate aesthetic ideas and develop resources to be able to transmit them.

The subject should allow the student to approach the critical reflection on the works of art, on the concept of art itself and on the production, as well as on the meaning of the main concepts handled by the discipline.

From this subject the students must achieve different objectives such as knowing how to correctly use the specific vocabulary of the discipline in the analysis of the different works of art and in the field of theoretical reflection. Another of the level objectives that students must achieve will be to understand the main problems faced by the discipline, establishing pertinent relationships between the concepts handled and being able to express the knowledge acquired in writing in a correct manner.

Another objective is for students to be able to know, understand and interpret the current cultural and social situation, as well as to enhance their personal capacity to update their knowledge and processes in order to be able to value and enhance the quality of their own work.
Other objective of this subject is that the student masters the formal analysis of works belonging to different artistic manifestations, differentiating their specific characteristics.

Finally, it is necessary that students know how to use the bibliography provided by the teacher and extract the fundamental information that the bibliographic sources provide in each case.

These goals are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 20/30 agenda, so that the acquisition of the learning results of this subject will provide training and competencies for their achievement. In particular, the following will be addressed:

Goal 4: Quality Education. Goal 5: Gender Equality. Goal 10: Reduction of Inequalities Goal 12: Responsible Production and Consumption Goal 15: Ecosystem Life. Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

2. Learning results

Upon completion of the subject, the student will be able to:

General competencies

CG02. Communication skills. Learning to translate artistic ideas in order to be able to transmit them

CG14. Interpersonal skills, awareness of one's own abilities and resources for the development of artistic work.

CG15. Capacity for ethical commitment and the promotion of gender equality, environmental protection, principles of universal accessibility and democratic values. 

Specific competencies

CE01. Critical understanding of art history, theory and current art discourse.. Analytical assimilation of the concepts on which the art is based.

CE02. Critical understanding of the evolution of aesthetic, historical, material, economic and conceptual values. To analyse the evolution of art values from a socio-economic and cultural perspective.

CE04. Critical understanding of the pre-formative and social impact dimension of art. Analyse the reciprocal impact between art and society.

CE05. Knowledge of current art theory and discourse, as well as the current thinking of artists through their works and texts. To constantly update the direct knowledge of art through its creators.

CE08. Knowledge of the different functions that art has acquired through historical development. Study the evolution of the role of art through time.

CE19. Ability to identify and understand the problems of art. Establish the aspects of art that generate creative processes.

CE21. Ability to understand and evaluate artistic discourses in relation to one's own work. Establish means to compare and relate personal artistic work to the creative context.

CE24. Ability to collaborate with other disciplines. Development of relationship and exchange channels with other fields of knowledge.

CE26. Ability to activate a cultural context and/or modify a public or private context. Knowing how to understand the cultural context in order to generate initiative and dynamize the environment.

2. Learning results

In order to pass this subject, the students shall demonstrate they has acquired the following results:

1. To be able to elaborate a reasoned discourse on the history of aesthetic ideas demonstrating their assimilation of the concepts on which art is based.
2. To be able to adequately carry out the study and documentation work leading to the elaboration of a research project in which they reflects critically on the art world.
3. To be able to expose, present and defend their proposals, research projects and opinions on the main problems of aesthetics, participating in public presentations, debates and discussions.

3. Syllabus

Introduction: Aesthetics and Philosophy of art in its history.

TOPIC 1. Aesthetics in Greek culture. Objectivity of the beautiful. Plato. Beauty and art. Aristotle. Mimesis, verisimilitude and catharsis.

TOPIC 2. Aesthetics in the Enlightenment. Kant. The criticism of judgment, the beautiful, the sublime, the genius.

TOPIC 3. German idealism: Hegel, Schiller and Hölderlin.

TOPIC 4. The crisis of Modernity. Nietzsche and the vitality of art. The artistic avant-garde.

TOPIC 5. Aesthetics and phenomenology. Merleau Ponty and M. Dufrenne.

TOPIC 6. Aesthetic thought in hermeneutics. Heidegger and Gadamer.

TOPIC 7. Critical aesthetic theory: Adorno, W. Benjamin

TOPIC 8. The dehumanization of art in Ortega y Gasset.

TOPIC 9. Postmodernity and liberation of the subject. Aesthetic deconstruction. Derrida.

TOPIC 10 Artur Danto and the end of art.

4. Academic activities

• Presentation or explanation by the teacher (and, as far as possible, by external collaborators when appropriate for a specific topic) accompanied by images (videos, slides, etc.).
• Students' own contributions on the main problems associated with aesthetic reflection, through class discussion and writing.
• Comprehensive reading and analysis of texts that develop and complete the main issues of the subject.
• Presentation in class of a research work carried out by the students and supervised by the teacher on a previously agreed topic of the subject.
• Presentation of content through any other material of interest to students, such as videos, films or documentaries.

5. Assessment system

Students who opt for a continuous evaluation system must attend class regularly (3 missed classes maximum). They will also perform the following work:

1º Demonstrate a basic knowledge of each of the topics covered in class. The students will prepare a summary of each of them, and the teacher will evaluate their knowledge by means of a test. These actions will be valued with a maximum of 5 points. To pass this test, students must, at least, demonstrate that they are capable of writing a written summary on each of the topics and know, understand and know how to explain the basic concepts of their own summary.

2º Preparation by groups of one of the offered topics. Presentation in class and dialogue about it with the teacher and classmates. The chosen topic will be written in an academic paper, individually or in groups. These activities will be valued with a maximum of 5 points. To pass this test the student must demonstrate that they can write a basic academic paper on the chosen topic, that they has worked in a team and that they is able to explain in public the basic aspects of the chosen topic. 50% of this grade will be obtained by the group's presentation.

Students who opt for a global assessment must take a global final test on one of the topics of the subject syllabus. This test will last two hours and will be graded from 0 to 10 points. To pass this test, students must, at least, correctly summarize and explain the concepts expressed in the development of the corresponding program topic.

Fraud or total or partial plagiarism in any of the assessment tests will result in not passing the subject and achieving the minimum grade, in addition to the disciplinary sanctions that the Quality Assurance Committee decides for these cases.

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GLOBAL TEST

All students will have the right to take the global test in order to pass the subject or to improve the grade obtained. Students attending the exam must appear punctually on the day and at the time indicated in the exam´s notice, otherwise they will be considered as "No-shows".

SECOND CALL

The evaluation in second call, to which all students who have not passed the subject will be entitled, will be carried out by means of a global test that will take place in the period established in the academic calendar, to that effect, by the Governing Council.