ESA191 Form and Content as Aesthetic Categories

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
1/1. 4 credit(s) (plus 1 credit for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Rostislav Niederle, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Rostislav Niederle, Ph.D.
Department of Aesthetics – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: doc. Mgr. Rostislav Niederle, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Aesthetics – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites
An Introduction to Philosophy An Introduction to Aesthetics
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 17 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
Introduction to the basic concepts of form and content and their applicability to the understanding of art and critical practice.
Learning outcomes
Student is able to analyze formal and/or content features of work of art.
Syllabus
  • Each student independently develops a description of the main idea of the text assigned for that week in 1200-1500 characters (about half a page). In the seminar session, students will be asked in turn to put in their own words the central idea to present the main idea from memory - in one or two sentences as they understand the text; discussion of the matter is expected. Then, by midnight on Sunday of that week, each student will put their assignment into the IS "Odevzdávárna". Each text will necessarily include: - An explanation of the main idea of the text (what the text is about, what it aims to do, what its "The aim of the text is to explain...") and the relationship of the text to the concepts of content and form. - The method of argumentation (the author presents the problem in such and such a way, poses a hypothesis, concludes that ... ); polemics welcome. The individual texts are posted on https://is.muni.cz/auth/do/phil/Pracoviste/seminar_estetiky/studijni_materialy/forma_a_obsah/ Order of texts: Shklovsky: Art as Method Vygotsky: Light Breath (Bunin) Kivy: Platonism in music: some arguments for Sibley: Aesthetic Concepts Eco: Notes on The Name of the Rose Kivy: The depth of music Dickie: Triumph of the Will Hume: On the Measure of Taste Bolzano: On the Concept of the Beautiful Mukařovský: Aesthetic norm, function, value as social facts Benjamin: The work of art in the age of technical reproducibility Completion of the course: participation in all seminars and average grade for all texts.
Literature
    recommended literature
  • The Routledge companion to aesthetics. Edited by Berys Nigel Gaut - Dominic Lopes. Third edition. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2013, xxii, 675. ISBN 9780415782869. info
  • A companion to aesthetics. Edited by Stephen Davies. 2nd ed. Malden: Wiley-blackwell, 2009, xvi, 621. ISBN 9781405169226. info
  • GRAHAM, Gordon. Philosophy of the arts : an introduction to aesthetics. Third edition. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2005, xi, 268. ISBN 9780415349789. info
  • A companion to aesthetics. Edited by David Cooper. 1st pub. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1995, xiii, 466. ISBN 0-631-19659-5. info
    not specified
  • DICKIE, George. Introduction to aesthetics : an analytic approach. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, x, 189. ISBN 9780195113044. info
  • ARISTOTELÉS. Poetika. Translated by Milan Mráz. Vyd. v Antické knihovně 1. Praha: Svoboda, 1996, 226 s. ISBN 8020502955. info
  • A companion to aesthetics. Edited by David Cooper. 1st pub. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1995, xiii, 466. ISBN 0631196595. info
  • HANSLICK, Eduard. O hudebním krásnu : příspěvek k revizi hudební estetiky. Translated by Jaroslav Střítecký. 1. vyd. Praha: Editio Supraphon, 1973, 137 s. info
  • PLATÓN. Symposion. Translated by František Novotný. Vyd. 3. (1. vyšlo v Otázk. V Praze: Jan Laichter, 1947, 93 s. info
Teaching methods
Lectures which requires homework preparation in reading the assigned study literature. After teacher's presentation of the general and particular features of the subject, students are guided to interpretation of the chosen extracts, and class discussions follow.
Assessment methods
Terms and conditions of course completion: 1.100% attendance at seminars 2.Successful writing and submission of all papers.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Information on completion of the course: test na základě látky přednášek a zadané literatury
The course is taught annually.
General note: Obecné podmínky ukončování kursů Semináře estetiky.
Information on course enrolment limitations: posluchači estetiky Bc., kteří začali své studium před více než čtyřmi semestry, musí mít splněnu postupovou zkoušku (ESAPZE), jinak si nesmí předmět zapsat
Teacher's information
https://is.muni.cz/auth/do/phil/Pracoviste/seminar_estetiky/studijni_materialy/forma_a_obsah/
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Autumn 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/ESA191