THL1501
ASSIGNMENT 2
DUE DATE: 16 APRIL 2024
, ASSIGNMENT 02
(Written Assignment)
Due date: 16 April 2024 Unique number: 163577
This assignment counts for 25% of your final mark. You are thus strongly advised to complete and
submit it.
Reading: The Study Guide for THL1501 and Recommended readings.
Ensure that you acknowledge your sources, including the Study Guide, using quotation
conventions, in-text citations and referencing following the Harvard method (there are examples
in Additional Resources).
Students are encouraged to discuss, engage, theorise, and substantiate their claims by
referencing the Study Guide. Consequently, read, re-read the Study Guide, make your own notes
etc. No online sources will be accepted.
By submitting your assignment, you are acknowledging that you have read and understand
Unisa’s policy on plagiarism, and that you are adhering to its prescripts.
Answer all 3 questions.
QUESTION 1
Through close reference to Marcia Eaton’s book Basic Issues in Aesthetics (1998),
cited in the Study Guide, write an essay in length between 500-800 words in which you
discuss the nature of “beauty” and “aesthetics”, that is, consider the challenges of
deciding on a definition of “beauty” and “aesthetics”. Give examples from the given
texts, and your own.
In Marcia Eaton's book "Basic Issues in Aesthetics," she talks a lot about how tricky it is to
figure out what "beauty" and "aesthetics" really mean. These ideas have been confusing
people for a long time because they depend on what each person thinks and feels, and
everyone sees things a bit differently.
Even way back when Socrates was around, people were struggling to explain what makes
something beautiful or ugly. Eaton shows us how different people can have totally different
opinions about what's beautiful. For example, one person might think a movie or a song is
amazing, while someone else thinks it's boring or even gross. Despite lots of smart people
thinking and talking about it, there's still no one answer that everyone agrees on.
It gets even trickier with modern art. Eaton talks about an artwork called "Stone Field" by Carl
Andre. Some people thought it was great art and worth spending public money on, while
others thought it was just a messy bunch of rocks, not real art at all. This shows how people
can see the same thing in very different ways.
ASSIGNMENT 2
DUE DATE: 16 APRIL 2024
, ASSIGNMENT 02
(Written Assignment)
Due date: 16 April 2024 Unique number: 163577
This assignment counts for 25% of your final mark. You are thus strongly advised to complete and
submit it.
Reading: The Study Guide for THL1501 and Recommended readings.
Ensure that you acknowledge your sources, including the Study Guide, using quotation
conventions, in-text citations and referencing following the Harvard method (there are examples
in Additional Resources).
Students are encouraged to discuss, engage, theorise, and substantiate their claims by
referencing the Study Guide. Consequently, read, re-read the Study Guide, make your own notes
etc. No online sources will be accepted.
By submitting your assignment, you are acknowledging that you have read and understand
Unisa’s policy on plagiarism, and that you are adhering to its prescripts.
Answer all 3 questions.
QUESTION 1
Through close reference to Marcia Eaton’s book Basic Issues in Aesthetics (1998),
cited in the Study Guide, write an essay in length between 500-800 words in which you
discuss the nature of “beauty” and “aesthetics”, that is, consider the challenges of
deciding on a definition of “beauty” and “aesthetics”. Give examples from the given
texts, and your own.
In Marcia Eaton's book "Basic Issues in Aesthetics," she talks a lot about how tricky it is to
figure out what "beauty" and "aesthetics" really mean. These ideas have been confusing
people for a long time because they depend on what each person thinks and feels, and
everyone sees things a bit differently.
Even way back when Socrates was around, people were struggling to explain what makes
something beautiful or ugly. Eaton shows us how different people can have totally different
opinions about what's beautiful. For example, one person might think a movie or a song is
amazing, while someone else thinks it's boring or even gross. Despite lots of smart people
thinking and talking about it, there's still no one answer that everyone agrees on.
It gets even trickier with modern art. Eaton talks about an artwork called "Stone Field" by Carl
Andre. Some people thought it was great art and worth spending public money on, while
others thought it was just a messy bunch of rocks, not real art at all. This shows how people
can see the same thing in very different ways.
