Undergraduate Module Descriptor

PHL3045: Aesthetics

This module descriptor refers to the 2020/1 academic year.

Module Aims

  • You will learn about current debates in Aesthetics, and come to understand how these are related to topics from elsewhere in the discipline of Philosophy.
  • You will learn to think critically about your own aesthetic tastes and judgements, and to articulate your philosophical conclusions with care and precision.
  • You will develop your capacities for philosophical analysis and reasoning, by reading and researching contemporary literature on Aesthetics.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.

On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Explain and evaluate key philosophical problems surrounding topics in Aesthetics and existing responses to these problems, while developing your own critical perspective.
2. Explain in an informed and systematic way how problems in aesthetics are connected to issues in other philosophical domains, including ethics and metaphysics.
3. Devise and sustain rationally persuasive arguments using appropriate ideas and techniques, some of which are at the forefront of the discipline.
Discipline-Specific Skills4. Critically analyze philosophical texts, both recent and historical, and examine their presuppositions and methods reflectively.
5. Consolidate philosophical concepts from other modules and begin to convey a sense of the unity of philosophy as a discipline.
Personal and Key Skills6. Illustrate and explain difficult ideas in writing and orally, while maintaining an honest and balanced perspective.
7. Analyse, critically engage with, and report accurately upon, existing written material while building a structured and cogent argument.
8. Work independently, within a limited time frame, and without access to external sources, to complete a specified task.