Film, Art, and Filmart: An Introduction to Aesthetics Through Film

by Michael D. Dahnke

Overview

This work is a basic introduction to aesthetics and covers the major theories of art, while referring to various filmic examples to illustrate the complex ideas related to the philosophy of art. In addition, it addresses film itself as an art form, analyzes film studies, and discusses film's ambiguous cultural/artistic position.
The overarching theme of the book is the most basic aesthetic question: What is art? That eternal and critical question is explored by addressing representation, formalism, and expressivism, three classic aesthetic theories. Film, Art, and Filmart begins by focusing on Plato, including a look at the issue of censorship as it is raised in his Republic. Then formalism is discussed via Kant, and Roger Fry's and Clive Bell's theory of Significant Form. Expressivism is dealt with by utilizing views by Leo Tolstoy and R.G. Collingwood. Contemporary issues in aesthetics are illuminated with George Dickie's theory of art, while also examining the cognitive theories of Nelson Goodman and Martha Nussbaum. The final chapter opens definitional structure up a bit by investigating the concept of freedom as integral to art and by straying from the largely analytic focus of the rest of the book through analysis of continental philosophers, such as Hegel, Nietzsche, and Foucault.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761837213
Publisher:	University Press of America
Publication date:	04/30/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	140
Product dimensions:	6.06(w) x 9.04(h) x 0.42(d)

About the Author

Michael D. Dahnke is clinical Assistant Professor of health and society programs at Drexel University and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at St. Joseph's University and The College of New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Preface
Chapter 2 Introduction: What is Art?
Chapter 3 Art as Representation
Chapter 4 Plato and Censorship
Chapter 5 Plato: Art as Mimesis
Chapter 6 Social Realism
Chapter 7 Art as Form
Chapter 8 Kant
Chapter 9 Significant Form
Chapter 10 Problems with Significant Form
Chapter 11 Realism and Formalism in Film Theory
Chapter 12 Formalism and Realism in Practice
Chapter 13 Formalism, Realism, and the "Real" World
Chapter 14 Art as Expression
Chapter 15 Tolstoy
Chapter 16 R.G. Collingwood
Chapter 17 Problems with Expressivism
Chapter 18 Art as an Insitution
Chapter 19 George Dickie's New Approach
Chapter 20 Problems with Institutional Theory
Chapter 21 Art as Knowledge
Chapter 22 Goodman's Cognitivism
Chapter 23 Nussbaum and Moral Knowledge
Chapter 24 Problems with Cognitivism
Chapter 25 Conclusions
Chapter 26 A Brief Excursus on High/Low Art
Chapter 27 Art as Freedom
Chapter 28 Art and Freedom: The Enlightenment to 1900
Chapter 29 Kant: Art and Creative Genius
Chapter 30 Hegel: The Art of Consciousness
Chapter 31 Nietzsche: Art as a Lie
Chapter 32 Foucault: Aesthetics of Existence
Part 33 Filmography
Part 34 Bibliography