“Morality and the Arts”
Good artists don’t always make good people. Neither do they always make moral art. How do we engage with works, if at all, after finding out that an artist’s morality clearly doesn’t align with our own? How do we engage with works who seem immoral to us? Does good art owe us morality? Who gets to define morality anyway? In this course, we will primarily read (but also watch and look at) morally complex works and try to parse through such questions about morality and the arts. We will consider how these questions have evolved through centuries (even millennia) and interrogate what merits art might have outside of morality.
This is a reading and discussion intensive class. No previous familiarity with the material required/expected, but students should be confident in their ability to discuss and think about works of emotional intensity.
This is a junior honors seminar. Enrollment is by invitation of the Departmental Honors Director.
Dr. Başak Çandar
Monday, Wednesday 2–3:15 pm, face to face
Course poster for ENG 3508.401, Junior Honors Seminar: Morality and the Arts, with Dr. Başak Çandar, Monday and Wednesday 2-3:15pm in Sanford 424: a still-life painting of a cut-open pomegranate and a hazelnut on a stone ledge.
