The Philosophy of Art and Beauty course cover

The Philosophy of Art and Beauty

5

LESSONS

2.3h

TOTAL LENGTH

What is art? Why do we human beings make it? What is its connection to beauty? These are the simple yet profound questions that will drive the inquiry of this course. In pursuing answers to these questions we will discover that art has not always been understood as it is understood today, and that indeed, even granting the many treasures of modern art, much that is valuable has been lost in the transition from the pre-modern conception of art to the modern one. In order to retrieve what has been lost, a reimagining of the arts is needed according to the Catholic Imagination.

MEET YOUR PROFESSOR

Dr. Daniel McInerny

Dr. Daniel McInerny

Dr. Daniel McInerny received his B.A. degree in English from the University of Notre Dame before going on to complete his M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Among his other academic appointments, from 2003 to 2009 he was an associate director of the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

Unpack Aristotle’s definition of art as a mimêsis, an imitation or representation of human beings in action that produces a “cognitive delight” in the spectator or reader.

How St. Thomas Aquinas’ definition of beauty implies that the beautiful (like truth and goodness) transcends the material.

How the narrative or storytelling arts accord with our definition of both art and the Catholic Imagination.

How the visual arts are best understood by analogy to the narrative arts.

LESSONS IN THIS COURSE

Thumbnail for Art and the Catholic Imagination

18m

Thumbnail for The Definition of Art

21m

Thumbnail for Narrative Arts

34m

Thumbnail for The Way of Beauty

35m

Thumbnail for Visual Arts, along with the Special Case of Music

34m

Ready to start learning?