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Philosophy of a Specific Discipline: Philosophy of Art History

Master

Philosophy of Art History is a specialisation of the MA programme in Philosophy of a Specific Discipline. The two-year Master’s programme in Philosophy of a Specific Discipline is intended for students in a particular academic discipline who are interested in the philosophical foundations and methodological aspects of that discipline.

For information about the objectives and general structure of the programme, the MA thesis and the requirements for graduation, please see the website of the MA in Philosophy of Specific Discipline. For a brief description of this specialisation click on ‘Informatie’ above.

Structure of the programme

First Year

  • 10 EC / MA course in Philosophy

  • 10 EC / MA course in Philosophy

  • 10 EC / Specialist MA course in Philosophy of Art History

  • 30 EC / MA courses in Art History

Second Year

  • 10 EC / Specialist MA course in Philosophy of Art History

  • 10 EC / MA courses in Art History

  • 10 EC / Literature Study in the area of the MA thesis

  • 30 EC / MA thesis

First year / Second year

The following MA courses in Philosophy and specialist MA courses in Philosophy of Art History are on offer in 2009-2010:

Course EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Specialist courses in Philosophy of Art History
Nietzschean and Post-Nietzschean Aesthetics 10
Philosophy of Art History II: The Transition from Classical Art to Modern Art 10

MA courses in Philosophy
Newton as Philosopher 10
Philosophy and History of Philosophy: an Uneasy Couple? 10
Philosophy of Historiography I: General and Intellectual History 10
Het ding bij Heidegger en Ponge 10
Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding 10
Philosophy of Historiography II: History of Science 10
The Taming of the Mind 10
Het ding bij Benjamin 10
Wijsgerige antropologie IV: Taal en Romantiek 10
Ethics and Evolution 10
Moral Psychology 10

More info

Description

One of the most important questions in the philosophy of art studies today concerns the transition that has taken place at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century of an academic-classical orientation to what since then has been called modern art. A similar transition has occurred in philosophy as well. In many respects philosophy of life and phenomenology can be compared with the revolutionary movements of impressionism and cubism.

What is the impact of this transition? What does it mean? What are its motives? Are both art and philosophy searching for new ways to come to terms with life in a constantly expanding reality? The study of art will profit by the critique of metaphysics in Nietzsche, for instance, his return to the tragic experience of the Greeks, as well as by the history of philosophical aesthetics since Kant up to Heidegger and modern French philosophers. The destruction of the traditional aesthetic concept of art, accomplished by these philosophers, reflects the way in which art itself has changed.

Specialisation co-ordinator

Dr. G.T.M. (Gerard) Visser
g.t.m.visser@phil.leidenuniv.nl