First-Year Research Seminar: The Lure of Beauty

Semester and Year	SP 2011
Course Number	FIRST-UG701
Section	001
Instructor	Christopher Trogan
Days	Tue,Thu
Time	6:20 PM - 7:35 PM
Units	4.0
Level	U
Foundation Requirement

Description

What is beauty? Why is it so powerful? What attracts us to someone or something beautiful? Is beauty an objective feature of things, or is it determined by cultural context and personal preference? Although beauty inspired enormous attention from antiquity to the twentieth century, much of modern art, literature, and philosophy considered beauty insignificant and, in some cases, even reacted vehemently against it. This course recognizes the significance of beauty and its enormous influence on our lives. It approaches the issue through an examination of the way in which philosophers, artists, writers, psychologists, cultural historians, and biologists have understood the term. It also considers the intersection of beauty and politics. Texts may include works by Arthur Danto, Charles Baudelaire, Immanuel Kant, Thomas Mann, Plato, Nancy Etcoff, Susan Bordo, and other contemporary figures.

Course Type

First-Year Program: Research Seminars (FIRST-UG)