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

by Dahnke, Michael D.

• ISBN13: 9780761837213
• ISBN10: 0761837213
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-04-30
• Publisher: UPA

Summary

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.

Author Biography

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

Preface	p. V
Introduction: What is Art?	p. 1
Art as Representation	p. 3
Plato and Censorship	p. 4
Plato: Art as Mimesis	p. 7
Plato on the Forms, Knowledge and the Soul	p. 8
Back to Mimesis	p. 10
Social Realism	p. 11
Problems with Art as Representation	p. 17
Art as Form	p. 22
Kant	p. 23
Significant Form	p. 27
Problems with Significant Form	p. 31
Realism and Formalism in Film Theory	p. 33
Cinematic Realism	p. 33
Film Formalism	p. 35
Formalism and Realism in Practice	p. 37
Formalism, Realism, and the 'Real' World	p. 38
Art as Expression	p. 42
Tolstoy	p. 43
R.G. Collingwood	p. 45
Problems with Expressivism	p. 50
Art as an Institution	p. 54
George Dickie's New Approach	p. 55
Problems with Institutional Theory	p. 62
Art as Knowledge	p. 68
Goodman's Cognitivism	p. 72
Nussbaum and Moral Knowledge	p. 78
Problems with Cognitivism	p. 84
Conclusions	p. 85
A Brief Excursus on High/Low Art	p. 86
Some Complications	p. 86
The Origin(s) of Artistic Hierarchies	p. 87
Attitudes Toward the 'Other' Culture/Art	p. 88
Filmart as High/Low	p. 89
Art as Freedom	p. 93
The Enlightenment to 1900	p. 95
Kant: Art and Creative Genius	p. 98
Hegel: the Art of Consciousness	p. 101
Nietzsche: Art as a Lie	p. 102
Foucault: Aesthetics of Existence	p. 107
Filmography	p. 113
Bibliography	p. 117
Index	p. 123
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