B026249 - AESTHETICS

Italian

What is an emotion? What is the role played by emotions in the human aesthetic experience? How does literature manage to produce emotional effects in readers and what are the forms and modes of this com-motion, of this “moving” emotional reactions through a literary work? The course aims to explore the question of emotions in the aesthetic experience of literary texts, focusing on two expressions of this emotional engagement: laughing and crying.

For the first part, concerning the reconstruction of some salient moments of the history of modern aesthetics, the reading of: F. Desideri - C. Cantelli, “Storia dell'estetica occidentale. Da Omero alle neuroscienze”, Carocci, Roma 2020 is recommended. The paragraphs of particular interest for the course will be indicated by the lecturer in class.
For the monograph part, the reading of: F. Caruana, M. Viola, “Come funzionano le emozioni”, il Mulino, Bologna 2018; F. Desideri, “Emoticon. Grana e forma delle emozioni”, in G. Matteucci, M. Portera, “La natura delle emozioni”, Mimesis, Milan 2014, pp. 17-32; Paolo D'Angelo, “La tirannia delle emozioni”, il Mulino, Bologna 2020. Further materials (an anthology of literary texts to be commented in class and a selection of research articles), which are an integral part of the course programme, will be provided and made available on the Moodle platform.

Knowledge: The student will acquire knowledge, in their fundamental lines, of the main topics, problems and authors of the history of western aesthetics, from antiquity to the nineteenth century, with specific reference to the debate on the role of emotions in art and aesthetic experience. Competences: The student will be able to master the specific vocabulary of aesthetics, to argue in a clear and precise manner and to orient his/herself within the classical, medieval, renaissance, modern aesthetic debate. They will be able: to understand what is meant by “emotion”, “aesthetic emotion”, "aesthetic experience", "work of art", "aesthetic fruition", "feeling", "taste", “beauty” and other key notions of the discipline; to discuss, at least in general terms, the positions of various relevant authors (Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Du Bos, Hume, Kant, Darwin, Bergson, Leopardi etc.) on the nature of emotions and the specifically on their role in aesthetic experience and the arts, with particular reference to the expressions of laughter and weeping; between poetry and painting; to analyze the contents and argumentative structure of the selection of literary texts that will be provided by the lecturer, situating them within their philosophical and historical-literary context; to master at least in their basic aspects and fundamental features genres and forms of the tragic, on the one hand, and the comic, on the other, in the history of literature, particularly Italian literature. Behaviour: students will be encouraged to make effective use of the study tools available to them (Moodle and other multimedia supports, bibliographic catalogues, library), to develop an active and fruitful exchange relationship with their colleagues and with the lecturer and to participate actively in lectures. Advanced seminars (the attendance of which is optional but strongly recommended) will complement the course.

Those required for the Bachelor of Arts degree course in Literature.

Lectures; guided discussions.

Non-attending students should contact the lecturer at the beginning of the course to agree on a specific programme.


Disabled students or students with learning disabilities are invited to contact the "UNIFI Include" desk in order to set up the course in the most appropriate manner for their specific needs. The agreed measures must be shared with the teacher in due time.

The assessment of learning will take place through an oral examination. The exam will be divided into two parts: a first part related to the general debate of the history of aesthetics and to the verification of the acquisition of the specific vocabulary of the discipline (2-3 questions), a second part related to the text object of the monographic treatment (2-3 questions). The overall assessment will take into account precise and detailed information about the course content and the accuracy of linguistic expression and vocabulary; critical examination of the contents; active participation in the class. The duration of the examination will be approximately 20 minutes.

The course will be divided into four sections. The first section, of an introductory and historical-philosophical nature, will offer a brief overview of the main themes, problems, concepts and figures in the history of Western aesthetics, from antiquity to the 19th century (among the authors that will be covered, with a focus on the relationship between emotion and the aesthetic dimension: Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Du Bos, Hume, Kant, Leopardi etc.). The second section will address the question of emotion in its broadest sense: what is an emotion? What are the main theories - philosophical, psychological, neuroscientific, etc. - on the nature of emotions? What are the neuro-physiological correlates of the emotional event? What is the relationship between emotion and expression? The third section will focus on the specific role of emotion in art and the aesthetic experience, taking the literary text as a particular case study; it will show how emotion is one of the components (but not the only one) of the aesthetic as a complex synthesis of perception, emotion and cognition, and will clarify, at least in their broad outlines, the relationship between emotion and language/literary word; Finally, the fourth section will analyse a series of examples of literary texts (poetry and prose) designed expressly to arouse laughter or tears, examining their theoretical assumptions of an aesthetic-philosophical nature, their rhetorical solutions, expressive techniques, themes and contents.