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Best UK univesities for (BA) Philosophy courses with a focus on Aesthetics?

Hi there,
I'm already applying to UCL, Sussex, and Bristol and I'm not 100% decided on my other two choices. Aesthetics is the area of Philosophy which interests me the most and I'd ideally like to go somewhere that offered more than a single module (As is the case with pretty much every University I've looked into).

Any and all advice is very welcome!
Cheers.

Reply 1

chazwomaq

Don't decide your university on such a narrow point. With most degrees, you'll lean a little bit of everything. You might not even yet know which area of philosophy you will like best, so don't make that a basis for your decision now.

Reply 2

EmrysHowe

Original post by chazwomaq

Yeah this makes sense, my other three options I think keep it pretty open. The purpose of this post was mainly to ask where, if anywhere, was recommended for Aesthetics.

Reply 3

cambio wechsel

First, understand that there will be opportunity to study aesthetics if taking a course on among others, Aristotle, Hume or Kant, and as well to discuss aesthetics in a course in ethics. You might also choose a university which in the final year allows/requires you to write a thesis, which as well could be on aesthetics.

But it is a comparatively narrow field. If this is the whole of your interest in Philosophy you might be better served by a degree in Cultural Studies, Film Studies or History of Art. Or by something like this:
http://www.arts.ac.uk/csm/courses/undergraduate/ba-culture-criticism-and-curation/

Reply 4

Estreth

Let me first say that I agree entirely with the above comments that you should not base your university decision at undergrad level on which are the best departments for aesthetics. Your interests may well change during your degree, and there will in any case not be much difference in your ability to focus on aesthetics at undergrad. Also bear in mind that aesthetics is to a large degree a matter of employing the arguments and investigating the problems of other, more general areas of philosophy (metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of language) in the context of art. So anyone who wants to be good at aesthetics needs a decent grounding in these areas as well.

That said, some universities do have a stronger focus on aesthetics than others, and since (i) you are looking at adding two more options to your three choices so far, and (ii) these are in any case very good universities for philosophy in general, I would suggest you look at St Andrews and York.

St Andrews' philosophy department sits within the School of Philosophical, Anthropological and Film Studies and has a strong faculty in Aesthetics; most significantly Berys Gaut -
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/philosophy/dept/staffprofiles/?staffid=100
Their list of Honours Modules includes two modules in aesthetics, Philosophy of Art and Philosophy of Creativity:
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/philosophy/current/ugrad/honoursmodules/

York also has a strong faculty (notably Peter Larmarque -
https://www.york.ac.uk/philosophy/staff/peter-lamarque/ and Gregory Currie -
https://www.york.ac.uk/philosophy/staff/greg-currie/ ) and lists three aesthetics courses among its modules - Contemporary Philosophy of Art, Philosophy of Art from Hume to Tolstoy, and Philosophy of Film.

These might be worth looking into. Please note that I have no idea how much undergraduate teaching the figures mentioned do, or what the rules are for combining modules, so this information may still not be indicative of the benefits of these institutions for an undergraduate interested in aesthetics.

Edit: Also consider Warwick. Several faculty with primary interests in aesthetics, including Eileen John and Diarmuid Costello. Several aesthetics courses are mentioned - Issues in Contemporary Aesthetics, Philosophy through Film, Philosophy of Photography and Aesthetics: Art, Beauty, and the Sublime, although you'd need to check how many and which would actually be available. And if you're interested in literature, consider the Philosophy and Literature joint honours course.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 5

radarmaker

Original post by Estreth

....That said, some universities do have a stronger focus on aesthetics than others, and since (i) you are looking at adding two more options to your three choices so far, and (ii) these are in any case very good universities for philosophy in general, I would suggest you look at St Andrews and York...

I agree with everything Estreth has said, regarding both degree content (I took an aesthetics paper in third year and having done ethics and epistemology for two years before that felt pretty crucial) and recommended institutions. But, just to throw another hat into the ring, I've always thought of Durham as being well-regarded for their aesthetics work, what with Andrew Cooper, Clare MacCumhaill, and Andy Hamilton being there. Their BA course seems to offer several 'philosophy & the arts'-type modules in addition to the dedicated aesthetics module.

(edited 7 years ago)

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