The Philosophy of Art
description
Transcript of The Philosophy of Art
![Page 1: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
The Philosophy of Art
What the philosophers had to say
![Page 2: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Mimetic theory of art
Art is fundamentally a mimesis (representation) of nature
Oldest theory of art
![Page 3: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
The Mimetic Theory of Art:
Problems:– How does this handle music?, abstract art?– What is “mimesis” exactly? (Imitation,
mirroring, perceptual equivalence, counterfeiting, idealization, representation?)
– If I say that the point of a picture is to capture the world exactly “as it really is,” what am I assuming?
![Page 4: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Teacher vs Student (Plato and Aristotle)
Plato viewed the arts as at best useless at worst "dangerous"According to Plato, artists deviated from providing a true picture of realityArtistic representations from the visual to the literal are merely copies of copies of perfect "Forms" from which all things ariseMoreover, Plato believed that arts inspire vice - arts excited appetites or inspired worthless fantasies
![Page 5: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Plato and art
Art is psychologically destabilizingArt leads to immoralityArt can be politically dangerous (and therefore needs to be controlled by the governing class)
![Page 6: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Plato's view on art
Everything that deceives may be said to enchant.
![Page 7: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Aristotle's view on artAs in all great student/teacher relationships, Aristotle takes the exact opposite viewAristotle agreed that art was essentially mimesis however rejected Plato's idea of FormsSaw art, poetry and drama as having a valid place in our realityAristotle saw the arts as meaningful in that they represented human lifeMoreover, the arts had the effect of catharsis or "release" by allowing us to experience our most disturbed emotions in a safe place (i.e. crying at a good movie)
![Page 8: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Aristotle and ArtArt is natural; imitation is naturalEncourages imaginationEncourages truth (artists have to accurately portray nature)“Organic Unity” – all parts must work together to form whole
• Good art leads to morality and truth
![Page 9: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Thomas Aquinas
Defined the beautiful as that which, being seen, pleases:
id quod visum placet.
![Page 10: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Consider the following paintings. Do you think they are beautiful?
![Page 11: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
THIS
ONE?
(A)
![Page 12: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Or, THIS ONE? (B)
![Page 13: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
If you picked A, you picked a master. If you picked B, you picked an amateur
who likes the master.
![Page 14: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
![Page 15: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
What about taste?David Hume believed that art appreciation is wholly subjective (each person judges for him/herself the value of the artwork)However, this leads to problems in terms of judging the value of art to society as a wholeTherefore, Hume suggests that works of art should be judged by experts in the field; great masterpieces of art, music and literature are valid because they have been generally agreed upon through time
![Page 16: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
![Page 17: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
What about taste?
Immanuel Kant rejected the idea that taste was an individual enterpriseKant argued that there were inherent structures in the human mind that allows us to examine art intellectually rather than emotionallyThis state is known as "disinterest" and it allows all people to experience art from an aesthetic perspective free from personal experiences and preconceptions
![Page 18: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
![Page 19: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
Nietzsche and Art
Friedrich Nietzsche argues that aesthetic values should replace moral values.Values of beauty and ugliness should be guidelines for action rather than formalized moral codes of conduct based on the God and religionWe ought to do what is beautiful, not what is "obligatory"
![Page 20: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Nietzsche and ArtTwo different sources of art - Apollonian and DionysianApollonian art centers on the orderly, beautiful, individual, rational and harmoniousDionysian art transcends the individual and absorbs that person in a frenzy (ie. music); it is largely amoral and not centred on traditional ethicsGreat art should have both Apollonian and Dionysian qualities
![Page 21: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
Art and Life?
Salvador DaliThe Persistence of Memory
![Page 22: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
![Page 23: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
Marx and Art
Marx felt the true function of art was social criticismMarxists view art as a revolutionary instrument; it helps people see what is wrong with their existing society and motivates them to make a changeBad art upholds the values of an existing society and aims at deceiving people into accepting those values.
![Page 24: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
![Page 25: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
Viva brevis, Ars longa
![Page 26: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
Viva brevis, Ars longa
![Page 27: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
Viva brevis, Ars longa
![Page 29: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
Viva brevis, Ars longa
![Page 30: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/30.jpg)
Viva brevis, Ars longa
![Page 32: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/32.jpg)
Viva brevis, Ars longa
![Page 33: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/33.jpg)
Viva brevis, Ars longa
![Page 34: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/34.jpg)
Viva brevis, Ars longa
![Page 35: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/35.jpg)
Viva brevis, Ars longa
![Page 36: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
Viva brevis, Ars longa
![Page 37: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/37.jpg)
Viva brevis, Ars longa
![Page 38: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/38.jpg)
What about music?
4 “33
![Page 39: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/39.jpg)
![Page 40: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/40.jpg)
Viva brevis, Ars longa
![Page 41: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/41.jpg)
![Page 42: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/42.jpg)
Representational?
Edouard Manet, Olympia
Morimura Yasumasa, Portrait
![Page 43: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/43.jpg)
Is this art?
Rene Magritte, The Rape
![Page 44: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/44.jpg)
What would the philosophers say?
Donald JuddUntitled
![Page 45: The Philosophy of Art](https://reader035.fdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022062306/56816630550346895dd9997c/html5/thumbnails/45.jpg)
The following is Ai Wei Wei’s “Forever Bicycles” seen at Toronto’s Nuit Blanche. Compare the ideas of two different philosophers to discuss the value/benefits (or lack thereof) this piece of artwork.