Università Roma Tre

The course will investigate the principal understandings of the notion of authenticity in contemporary debates in aesthetics and the philosophy of art as regards visual arts and music.
Throughout the course, the following issues will be addressed:
Why do we care so much about the authenticity of the objects of our aesthetic appreciation?
On what ground can we reject forgery, plagiarism, and other forms of artistic counterfeiting?
What is the relationship between an object’s authenticity and its aesthetic value?
What is the value of authenticity in different art forms?
What is an authentic musical performance?

1. *Compulsory texts*

Danto, A.C., The Transfiguration of the Commonplace, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (MA) 1981, ch.1-2.
Davies, S., Themes in the Philosophy of Music, Oxford University Press, Oxford, ch. 5.
Dodd, J., Being True to Works of Music, Oxford University Press, Oxford, ch. 1,2,4,5.
Dutton, D. ‘Authenticity in Art’, in J. Levinson (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics, New York, Oxford University Press 2003, pp. 324-343.
Goodman, N., Languages of Art, Indianapolis, The Bobbs Merrill Company 1968, ch. 3.
Kivy, P. Authenticities: Philosophical Reflections on Musical Performance, Ithaca (NY), Cornell University Press 1995, ch. 1,2,5.
Stalnaker, N., Fakes and Forgeries, in B. Gaut and D.L. (eds) The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics (3d Edition), London-New York, Routledge 2013, pp. 395-407.

2. *Recommended texts*
Select at least one paper from each of the following sections:

2.1
Lessing, A., ‘What is Wrong with a Forgery?’, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 23, 1965, pp. 461-471.
Jaworski, P.M., ‘In Defense of Fakes and Artistic Treason: Why Visually-Indistinguishable Duplicates of Paintings Are Just as Good as the Originals’, Journal of Value Inquiry 47, 2013, pp. 391-405.
Farrelly-Jackson, S. (1997), ‘Fetishism and the identity of art’, The British Journal of Aesthetics, 37, 2, 1997, pp. 138-54.

2.2
Sagoff, M., ‘On Restoring and Reproducing Art’, The Journal of Philosophy 75, 1978, pp. 453-470.
Dutton, D., ‘Artistic Crimes’, The British Journal of Aesthetics, 19, 4, 1979, pp. 302-341.
Kosmeyer, C., ‘Aesthetic Deception: On Encounters with the Past’, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 6, 2008, pp. 117-127.
Sagoff, M., ‘Art and Authenticity: A Reply to Jaworski’, Journal of Value Inquiry 48, 2014, pp. 503-515.

2.3
Shiner, L., 'Primitive Fakes, Tourist Art, and the Ideology of Authenticity', The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 52, 1994, pp. 225-234.
Young, J.O., ‘Art, Authenticity and Appropriation’, Frontiers of Philosophy in China 3, 2006, pp. 455-476.
Bowden, R., ‘What is Wrong with an Art Forgery? An Anthropological Perspective’, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 57, 1999, pp. 333-343.