This course will examine the aesthetics of film from the early 20th Century to the present. Instead of using films to discuss philosophical issues, we will discuss the philosophical issues that film as an aesthetic medium raises. The aesthetic-for us, medium of film- is thus understood as irreducible to the traditional division in philosophy between practical philosophy (ethics, political philosophy) and theoretical philosophy (epistemology, metaphysics). The aesthetic brings with it its own set of rules, chief among them is the idea that it's rules cannot be set out in advance of its product. We will thus be discussing art (film) as what generates a new theoretical discourse about it at each turn. The theoretical discourse, however, is in lively conversation with the product it seeks to understand and must change as the object itself evolves. What is more, film products themselves constitute their own proper critique of their own tradition in the sense that, for instance, the depth of field shot followed on from the formal constraints of the montage technique. This course will also have a practical component. Each student will create a short film (on a selected topic) which will then be shown to the class as a whole and subjected to (friendly) critique in class by all as well as in writing by a group of students. The film will then be reworked to address suggestions, reshown again so that others may comment upon it both in writing and in their own films. In this way, students will both be able to make theoretical and practical comments on each other's work.