The Problem of Beauty
FRSEM-UA-550
Tuesdays, 2:00-4:30
Office hours by appointment (please email Christina Ciambriello: cc1048@nyu.edu)
What is beauty for? It is common in many circumstances to think of beauty as "merely"
beautiful-something nice to have, but an unnecessary add-on to what really matters. This
hasn't always been the case. Beauty has played an important part in philosophy, ethics
and theology, and now it is playing an increasingly interesting role in biology,
neuroscience, social policy and design. But what is beauty, anyway? And why should we
care? This course explores the role of beauty across a variety of disciplines and across
"long time" (not just the period from the ancient world to the present, but even the long
time of evolution).
Course Requirements:
Readings and viewings should be completed before class on the day they are listed
below.
A copy of the syllabus is available on our NYUClasses site, which you may find via
NYUHome, on the “Academics” tab.
Please note that all work is to be completed in conformity with the CAS Academic
Integrity policy (http://cas.nyu.edu/page/academicintegrity) and honor code
(http://cas.nyu.edu/page/honorcode).
All work should be submitted via email (gabrielle.starr@nyu.edu), preferably in .pdf
form.
10%
25%
15%
20%
30%
Class participation. This is a seminar, so you will be expected to participate by
engaging in active discussion of the assigned works and of one another’s ideas.
More than two absences will result in loss of all 10% of this part of your grade.
Starting September 9, please email me a 1-2 pp. response paper each week in
which you think about one clearly defined aspect of the assigned work. This
might be a question you have about the reading, an aspect of a film you found
compelling, etc. THERE IS NO RESPONSE PAPER DUE ON DATES WITH
OTHER WRITTEN WORK ASSIGNED.
A critical analysis of a landscape walk in Central Park. More information before
this is due. 3-5pp. Due October 28.
A final paper 5-7pp. examining in detail one aspect of the beautiful that has come
to take on new significance for you in the course of class. This paper should use
evidence from the works assigned for the class. Due December 11.
A final exam, which will function as a reading/viewing check, and enable you to
synthesize some of what you have learned.
September 2
September 9
What is Beauty?
Beautiful Bodies
Song of Solomon
Plato, Pheadrus
Swift, “The Lady’s
Dressing Room”** & “A
Beautiful Young Nymph
September 16
Human and Deity
September 23
Visual Art and Beauty
September 30
Beauty and the Written
Word
October 7
Beauty and the Written
Word
Fall break
Beauty and the Written
Word
Public Art—please visit
Central Park before hand
and write down a detailed
description of taking a
particular pathway in the
park
Culture and Capital
October 14
October 21
October 28
November 4
November 11
November 18
Is there something else than
Beauty
The Political Critique of
Beauty
November 25
Beauty Now and Then
December 2
Beauty Now
December 9
Beauty Now
Going to Bed”**
Job (Stephen Mitchell
trans.)
William Blake’s
illustrations**
Hogarth, The Analysis of
Beauty
Smith, “Pretty”**
Owen, “Dulce et
Decorum”**
Hopkins, “Pied Beauty”**
Keats, “Lamia”**
James, Portrait of a Lady
NO CLASS
James, Portrait of a Lady
Meet in Madison Sq. Park,
rain or shine, by Shake
Shack
Selections,
Bourdieu, Distinctions
Burke, A Philosophical
Inquiry
Ovid, from the
Metamorphoses**
Fulton, “Give: Daphne and
Apollo”**
Etcoff, Survival of the
Prettiest
American Beauty* and
Ghost Dog*
Final thoughts
Required Texts: if works are not listed below they may be found at the library course
reserves section* or on the NYU Classes site**. The texts below are available at the
NYU Bookstore.
Burke, A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origins of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful
(Oxford)
Etcoff, Survival of the Prettiest (Anchor)
James, A Portrait of a Lady (Oxford)
Hogarth, The Analysis of Beauty (Yale)
Plato, Phaedrus (Hackett)