Aesthetics

The course aims to provide students with the basic notions and a historical overview of the philosophical image theories and the strategies of iconic visualization of thoughts, symbolic contents and complex meanings. The proposed path will address from the specific perspective of the image the fundamental questions of the aesthetic discipline, also taking into consideration their interdisciplinary connections with other domains such as: visual semiotics, art history, iconology, psychology of art, cognitive neurosciences.
The students will acquire a basic knowledge of the main image theories developed throughout the history of aesthetics (mimesis theory, semiotics of icon and index, phenomenology of image consciousness, ontology and hermeneutics of the image, Gestalt psychology, iconology, analytic theories of depiction). Along this path the students will be introduced to the fundamental authors and concepts of the aesthetic discipline, to its main methods and to its specific terminology.
The students will acquire the skills necessary to apply the conceptual framework of aesthetics to the critical reading of images, having recourse to an adequate specific lexicon. They will be able to orient themselves among the main theoretical models (both of continental and analytic tradition) and in the corresponding literature. They will apply the acquired competences to the reading and critical comment of fundamental texts of the history of aesthetics, with particular emphasis on the philosophy of the image.