Philosophy 141, Classical Concepts of Beauty, is a new half-year course both for students new to university and for continuing students interested in exploring philosophy. It consists of the first half of the full-year course, Philosophy 140, Arts & Ideas, marked as a self-contained first-semester introduction to philosophy.

The course assumes no background whatsoever — it is designed for absolute beginners.

Classical Concepts of Beauty begins with Plato’s great and inspiring work, the Republic. We’ll look at Plato’s arguments for censoring art in an ideal state, along the way examining his view of society, knowledge, morality, and the nature of reality itself.

Plato’s condemnation of art makes a profound contrast with Aristotle. In the Poetics, Aristotle presents a theory of drama and entertainment that is as relevant to soap operas and Hollywood movies as it is to Greek tragedy.

Although the basic aesthetic theories are those of the greatest thinkers of ancient Athens, examples and applications are drawn from fiction, movies, music, painting, sculpture, video, body decoration, dance parties, and even fashion. The essential questions remain: What is a work of art? Why do the arts give us such intense pleasure? Plato thinks painting, story-telling, and music are potentially bad for us. Aristotle can’t get enough of them: not only are the arts pleasurable, they are downright health-inducing.