Advanced Course in Theories of Knowledge: Aesthetics

The aim of this course is to encourage reflection on art objects understood as aesthetic objects. Key questions will engage with the kind of knowledge an aesthetic approach can impart and notions of art as artwork or as experience.

The course is part of HFs PhD Week.

The course will feature topics from musicology, literature, poetry, drama, conservation studies and visual arts, and will discuss similarities and differences in approach and understanding in these disciplines.

Authenticity, autonomy and the concept of art will be in focus in studying a range of art objects, expressions, events or phenomena and their affinities or differences when heard, seen, read or reflected on. The course will also address issues of conservation and origin, and the nature of the work as authentic in the context of the natural sciences.

The course will feature a combination of lectures, presentations and group work. The lectures will be one-and-a-half hour sessions delivered by course convenors. Participants will be asked to present texts from the curriculum, individually or in groups. The final groupwork will incorporate reflections related to the epistemological point of departure of the participants’ own research.

The course will be led by scholars in Art History, Visual Culture and Musicology and is relevant for candidates at all of the Departments at the Faculty of Humanities.

Course preparations

Course participants will be required to read the entire curriculum. You will be required to write a brief (1 page) response-paper in which you critically engage with a proposition from one or several of the texts. You will also write a 2-page essay relating themes from the workshop to your own field or research project. The two texts should be uploaded to the digital course site. The paper and essay should be uploaded in the course Teams room by November 1

A list of the curriculum can be downloaded here

This is a 1ECTS course

In class

Your reflections will be the starting points for our discussions—in groups and plenary. Expect an interactive and problem-based session filled with intellectual engagement with core issues in the theories of science. We will start by discussing issues arising from your response-papers. After lunch we will move on to your reflections centering on your own field or research project.

Language

The course language is English, including reading responses and essays. We will switch to Norwegian in class if everyone is able to follow the discussions.

Registration

Registration opens on September 20 at noon. Priority will be given to PhDs from the Faculty of Humanities. We ask that postdocs and PhDs from other Faculties at UiO, and other applicants, wait until 1 October to register. Registration closes when the course has reached its maximum number of participants.

Click here to register

Course conveners

Contact persons: Bente Larsen and Peter Edwards

Published Sep. 8, 2023 8:32 AM - Last modified Sep. 28, 2023 2:52 PM