Master's Degree in Philosophy:
Focus on Philosophy and the Arts

Many of the questions that occasioned Plato's reflection on art are still with us: What is the relationship between art and truth? Is the task of the artist to represent already existing things or to create altogether new things? Is the spectator of art to be regarded as a mere witness or as an active participant? What is the role of emotion in the experience of art? What are the most salient differences between the various arts?

Other questions have arisen with increasing urgency in more recent times: What does psychoanalysis have to teach us about the place of art in our lives? How are class, race, and gender pertinent to the production and enjoyment of art? Do we need to reconceive aesthetics in view of a global electronic culture?

This master's program offers an open and informal setting in which to explore such questions in seminars and lectures taught by renowned philosophers of art. Practicing artists will also participate in an intensive discussion of issues in the philosophy of art that are of enduring as well as contemporary interest.