Something to Prove is an introduction to philosophy and the practice of community of inquiry (COI). Researched and written specifically for young adults and their teachers, it pokes an exploratory finger into the areas of metaphysics, epistemology, aesthetics, political ideology, formal reasoning, ethics, culture, freedom, and more. The book employs contemporary story-telling techniques, informal language, […]
Category: Philosophy of Art
Introducing Aesthetics
This book introduces some of the main issues in aesthetics. It focuses on ideas and thinkers; it also makes an attempt at historical narrative. Students would find this boo replete with illustrations reasonably engaging. One of its strengths is that it illustrates the wide range of philosophical debates into which aesthetics injects itself. The book […]
Routledge A Level Philosophy
This very useful and secondary school student appropriate website, is targeted at students in Year 12 and 13. It covers a range of topics including reason and experience, why should I be governed? Why should I be moral? The idea of God, persons, knowledge of the external world, tolerance, the value of art, God and […]
The Power of Myth
Title: The Power of Myth Author: Campbell, Joseph Publisher: Anchor Books Location: New York ISBN: 0-385-41886-8 Joseph Campbell is often regarded as one of the preeminent scholars of world mythology. George Lucas credited him with influencing Star Wars. The Power of Myth is in the form of a dialogue between Campbell and Bill Moyers which […]
Puzzles About Art
Puzzles About Art: An Aesthetics Coursebook (1989) Margaret P. Battin, John Fisher, Ronald Moore, Anita Silvers Puzzles About Art is A very readable introduction to the philosophy of art that could be easily read by high school students. A very useful feature of the book is that it constantly cites ‘cases’ where philosophical problems about […]
Stephen Neale on Meaning and Interpretation
Stephen Neale discusses questions of meaning and interpretation in everyday life and in the law. How relevant are intentions? Do words carry their meanings independently of the contexts in which they are used? Although this is about the meaning of language it can be extended to a discussion on the meaning and interpretation of works […]
Cynthia Freeland on Portraiture
What is a portrait? Can it reveal the essence of a persons character? Cynthia Freeland explores these questions in conversation with Nigel Warburton. Thirteen minutes long.
I Met the Walrus
In 1969, a 14 year old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan snuck into John Lennons hotel room in Toronto and convinced him to do an interview. 38 years later an animated short film was made called I Met the Walrus using the original interview recording as the soundtrack. During the interview Lennon makes some interesting […]
Masterminds The Forgers Art
A video about John Drewe, someone who pulled off the biggest art fraud in U.K. history. Questions can be asked after watching the video such as: If the experts were convinced that the paintings were genuine then should they not be considered of equal aesthetic value to actually genuine paintings by the alleged artist? If […]
The Philosophy of Art
The Philosophy of Art Stephen Davies Intended as an undergraduate textbook, The Philosophy of Art provides a great overview of contemporary philosophy of art. It would probably be too difficult for students to read but very useful as a reference book for teachers. It covers the interpretation of art, the relation between art, culture and […]