PHIL 438: Topics in Continental Philosophy
PHIL 438: Topics in Continental Philosophy
The Generic Catalog Description
This course introduces students to a specialized topic in some aspect of European philosophy from Kant to the present.
PHIL 438: Topics in Continental Philosophy: Aesthetics
The course acquaints students with aesthetics in the Continental tradition through primary sources of six major thinkers: Kant, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, Foucault, and Derrida.
Continental philosophers present the aesthetic experience as a revolutionary one. In other words, the aesthetic experience enables human beings to separate themselves from the reality of their world and to enjoy a moment of pleasure (Kant), to gain new inspiration (Nietzsche and Heidegger), to perceive the world as it can be (Sartre), and to look at cultural constructs in a different light (Foucault and Derrida). The power and ubiquity of the aesthetic experience make it, according to Continental philosophers, one of the most important categories of human experience.p>
The course introduces students to a specialized topic in some aspect of European philosophy from Kant to the present.