Site • RSS • Apple PodcastsDescription (podcaster-provided):
Lecture series on Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art. The first part of the series focuses on some of the most important writings on art and beauty in the Western philosophical tradition, covering Plato, Aristotle, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant. The second part of the series focuses on questions about understanding works of art and about the nature of art. This part examines the interpretation of literature, the expression of emotion in music, and the definition of artThemes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Western aesthetics philosophy • Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant • beauty, taste, aesthetic judgement • literary interpretation • emotion in music • defining and understanding artThis podcast presents a lecture series on aesthetics and the philosophy of art, taught by an Oxford philosophy lecturer. Across the series, it introduces major ideas about art and beauty from influential figures in the Western philosophical tradition, moving from classical accounts to modern theories of aesthetic judgment. Early lectures engage with foundational questions raised by Plato and Aristotle about the status of art, imitation, and the role of poetry and drama, then shift to early modern debates about taste and critical authority through Hume’s discussion of whether standards of aesthetic evaluation are possible.
A central portion of the podcast focuses on Kant’s *Critique of Judgment*, examining how judgments of beauty and artistic merit might claim a kind of universal validity while remaining grounded in human experience rather than empirical proof. Building on these historical frameworks, later lectures turn to core problems in contemporary philosophy of art: how literature should be interpreted, what it means for music to express emotion, and what criteria—if any—can define art as a category. The overall emphasis is on conceptual analysis of artistic experience, evaluation, and interpretation, using canonical philosophical texts and focused topics (literature and music) to frame broader questions about the nature and understanding of art.
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8. Defining Art 2011-Mar-15 52 minutes |
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7. Musical Expression 2011-Mar-15 52 minutes |
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6. Literary Interpretation 2011-Mar-15 54 minutes |
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5. Kant's Critique of Judgement: Lecture 2 2011-Mar-15 53 minutes |
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4. Kant's Critique of Judgement: Lecture 1 2011-Mar-15 55 minutes |
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3. Hume and the Standard of Taste 2011-Mar-15 55 minutes |
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2. Aristotle's Poetics 2011-Mar-15 55 minutes |
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1. Plato's Philosophy of Art 2011-Mar-15 54 minutes |