Club Calendar

Artists, composers, film makers, poets, playwrights and architects frequently raise philosophical issues in their work. Sometimes their work anticipates what only much later will become of interest to philosophers. This course will discuss a diverse range of artworks as a way of understanding the associated philosophical questions and positions. Each session will begin with a brief overview of a philosophical problem; its application in the case of the associated artworks will then be discussed with the group. No prior knowledge is assumed, and readings will be strictly optional. In this course,Dr John Gordon will guide you as you use significant works of art to enliven and inform philosophical arguments.

1. Virtue ethics and David’s Oath of the Horatii
2. Environmental ethics and Burns’ To a Mouse
3. Epistemology and Paolozzi’s Master of the Universe
4. The problem of personal identity and the works of Magritte
5. Duty ethics and High Noon
6. Freedom of the will and Sophocles’ Oedipus the King
7. Existentialism and the works of Rothko
8. Feminism and Shakespeare’s Macbeth
9. Philosophy of music and John Cage’s 4’22”
10. Beauty and the Trump Ballroom