General Requirements for the M. A. degree in Philosophy

Upon completion of 30 graduate credits of graded coursework, a student may be awarded the M.A. degree in Philosophy. The seminars for the focus in Philosophy and the Arts are awarded each semester at the Manhattan site. No more than 6 credits can be independent study and at least 3 credits must be a seminar taken in the Philosophy Department at Stony Brook.

If they choose to do so, students may submit a Masterís thesis essay. It must be judged and passed by at least two faculty members of the Department of Philosophy. The 6 hours of independent study can be used for the thesis.

Philosophy and the Arts Conference

The Philosophy MA Program will be hosting its Third Annual Philosophy and the Arts Conference on March 26-27, 2010 at the SBU Manhattan facility.Ê Keynote speaker Simon Critchley, Chair of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research, will deliver a paper on the conference theme, "Collectively," on the evening of the 26th.

The conference is accepting both grad student papers and artwork submissions related to this theme until January 13th, 2010. Visit the conference website at http://www.philosophyartconference.org to see the full Call for Papers and Artwork, submission instructions, and more information on this and previous conferences. You can reach the conference coordinator at philosophyartconference@gmail.com with any questions or comments.

PHILOSOPHY AND THE ARTS

The M.A. with a focus in Philosophy and the Arts explores philosophical aspects of the fine arts (painting, sculpture, drawing, and installations) as well as architecture. It also examines aspects of the art world that can be illuminated by philosophical analysis (e.g., museum and exhibition culture, art criticism, and art theory). No other advanced degree with a comparable concentration exists in the metropolitan area. Art and philosophy are typically pursued in separate programs, with only the rare single course offering considering both at once. Yet philosophical dimensions of art have become of increasing concern to artists, art historians, and philosophers themselves in the last decade. For example, the question as to what constitutes an artwork -- i.e., what are its material and social conditions and limits -- could be fruitfully discussed in a focused way in this particular concentration. A central seminar to be given each semester takes up a basic question like this, supplemented with courses in more specialized topics of concern both to philosophers and to those in the art world. Artists and architects with interests in philosophical features of their work, the educated public, art collectors and museum directors, and those who seek to earn an advanced degree in philosophy will be interested in the seminars offered as part of this program. Along with the general requirements for the Masters of Arts in Philosophy, the following courses can be taken to fulfill the course requirements:

Phil 505 Aesthetic Theory: An immersion in the most challenging philosophical theories of art from the Greeks to the current moment. Authors to be considered include Plato, Aristotle, Longinus, Kant, Schiller, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Freud, Collingwood, Cassirer, Langer, Adorno, Heidegger, Greenberg, and Danto. Readings will be chosen from several of these figures, with the selection varying from year to year.

Phil 506 Art and its Problems: A consideration of basic problems in the creation and appreciation of art: What is the creative process? Who is the artist? How is art to be compared with other symbolic forms ( e.g., language, science, technology)? What does art offer that philosophy does not, and vice-versa? In what ways does the gender or racial identity of the artist affect the creation of the work? What are the cultural, social, and political dimensions of the art work and its reception?

Phil 507 Aesthetic System: A concentrated reading of a single major work, with attention both to its detailed structure and to its larger significance. Candidates for such reading include Aristotle's Poetics, Kants's Critique of Judgement, Hegel's Lectures on The Philosophy of Art, Adorno's Aesthetic Theory, Collingwood's Principles of Art, Langer's Feeling and Form, Dewey's Art as Experience, Heidegger's "The Origin of the Work of Art," and Danto's Transfiguration of the Commonplace.

Phil 508 Contemporary Matters: With an eye on art works available in the public sphere - current exhibitions, installations, concerts, readings, performances, etc.-philosophical queries will be pursued: Why these works now? How do they compare with the their predecessors? What do they portend for the future of art? Visits to the original places and / or performances of these works will be integrated into an ongoing discussion of the questions they raise within the context of aesthetic theory, especially that of postmodern thinkers such as Lyotard and Deleuze, Heidegger and Derrida.

Faculty: David Allison, Edward Casey, Harvey Cormier, Robert Crease, Eduardo Mendieta, Mary Rawlinson, Hugh Silverman.

Director: Edward Casey

For more information, please visit the program's page at the Stony Brook Manhattan site.

To request an application, please contact the department.

To download a PDF version of the application, go to: The Graduate School

To apply online, go to: Online Application