This course introduces students to key critical philosophies of modern aesthetics from the 18th Century to the present. Specifically, it examines the relevance of aesthetic theories of Kant, Hegel, the German Romantics, Nietzsche, Lyotard, Derrida, psychoanalysis and marxism to new modes of perceptual and affective experience associated with postmodernity. Themes investigated include debates between formal and historical aesthetic theories; the revival of aesthetic theory in the visual arts in recent decades; responses to the spectacular image culture of postmodernity; and the relationship between aesthetics and ethics. The course addresses how key currents of modern aesthetic theory might be applied and revised in light of contemporary social and cultural conditions.