So the purpose of this blog is to think and write about thought provoking ideas that I have in class and to continue the discussion outside of the classroom.
So to start off with, we only discussed part of the introduction for class. The main question was how can we look at art philosophically? Anyways, it turned into more of a discussion about aesthetics and such. I was not terribly into this part of the discussion, more off in my own world thinking about art itself and how can things be art.
Art is obviously changing and so is the definition, if there even is one for art. What is art? No one really knows. I say it's a purposeful expression of...something? Maybe? Who knows. The discussion in class was not focusing on anything in particular, other than aesthetics for a while and trying to determine what that even means.
Something I really wanted to delve into though, and tried but was unsuccessful was the fact that to look at art philosophically is not to determine what art is; instead it is a matter of looking at how others see and define art. Philosophy is not about defining things, it is about determining how others look at things and how it affects their lives. Therefore to try and define art in our class seems very against the whole premise of philosophy and its ideals.
A final question I will leave you with is: why are we on such a mission to define art?
To attempt to answer your question and touch on additional things that you mentioned in your post, I have two opinions.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I'll try to answer your question, to which I think that the necessity to try and define art is more significant than it seems. Mostly because if we could come to some sort of concrete answer as to what art is and why, then lots of other things would become certainly much easier to answer by classification. Additionally, it is a frustrating thing to have a word that everyone in the world knows and understands, but can't be truly defined in a concrete manor. All in all, it would be nice if there were some sort of constant that we could agree on and attempt to hold against any formidable question.
Secondly, there is the string of comments that you left in your last paragraph, to which I think are very interesting. I think that the idea of philosopher's not defining words and ideas is incorrect; in fact I almost feel it’s the opposite. To my understanding, philosophy is a practice of unbiased understanding and proving of truth, to which defining art is a paramount example. To look at art philosophically is but to understand what art is and why it is significant to all things that it affects.
Do you still disagree?
I see where you come from, Alex, and I still slightly agree. I don't see the purpose of philosophy as defining things, but more understanding. So with art, it may not be crucial to necessarily DEFINE it, it is certainly important to understand the concept.
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