Philosophie und ästhetische Theorie II

ATTENTION: this lecture course will be in GERMAN!The aim of this lecture course is to provide an overview of recent philosophical aesthetic theories. The lecture course begins with a brief introduction to the context in which the philosophical discipline of aesthetics emerged in the 18th century. This not only brings into focus the era of great revolutions such as those in France and Haiti. It was also the time of the enforcement of colonial-backed capitalism and the heyday of the transatlantic slave trade. It is in this power constellation that what would later be called the (more or less) autonomous field of art is formed. It emerges in tandem with the discipline of aesthetics and concepts that are still central in the dominant aesthetic discourses of today. However, we will mainly deal with the question of which traces of the struggles of the 18th century can be found in aesthetic theories of the 20th century. The lecture course will focus on the aesthetic theories of Walter Benjamin, Theodor W. Adorno, bell hooks, Félix Guattari, Jacques Rancière, as well as the approaches of Birmingham Cultural Studies, pragmatism and relational aesthetics.At the beginning of the semester, the texts that will be discussed in more detail in the lecture course will be made available on MOODLE. In addition, handouts will be prepared for all lectures.Precisely because philosophy is considered a difficult and demanding subject, the teacher’s aim in this introductory course is to speak in such a way that no specialised knowledge is needed to participate productively. The lecture should make you want to philosophize.