“We are in the presence of a work of art only when it has no preponderant instrumental use, and when its technical and rational foundations are not preeminent.”1
The words of George Kubler, a prominent twentieth century art historian, support the notion that art cannot be useful or necessary to society outside of its artistic expression. Kubler’s belief, however, is not solely a contemporary idea. The eighteenth century philosopher, Immanuel Kant, formally proposed this theory. Kant separated fine art from useful art, maintaining that an artist’s goal must be to convey aesthetic ideas through form and design. These ideas are original and creative and therefore have “purpose without a purpose.”2 In short, both Immanuel Kant and George Kubler, even though separated by more than a century, believe that art only exists for the sake of art, without any other functional value to society, and thus anything that possesses utility fails to be art.
Initially, we can easily agree with this notion since art does exist in this form. Famous works of art such as Monet’s “Waterlilies” or Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” demonstrate that art exists for art’s sake. These artists express their ideas through form and design, giving the work “purpose without a purpose.” Even though art exists for the sake of artistic expression, we can also find art that defies the philosophy of Immanuel Kant.
Bridges exist as art, and thus engineers exist as artists. Although bridges stand as feats of engineering that perform the task of connection, bridges also display great beauty. Undoubtedly, beautiful bridges evoke an array of emotions from observers, much the same as an inspired painting, and thus offer warnings that Kubl...
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...ltimately, since the George Washington Bridge qualifies as art, while also utilizing rational and technical foundations to perform a useful function, we can easily disprove George Kubler’s belief. His shortsightedness denies the existence of the art and beauty that surrounds us everyday. Herein lies the biggest tragedy. To limit art to such a small sample of the creative prospects offered by the world only serves to diminish the experience of aesthetic pleasure. Instead, people can and do appreciate works like the George Washington Bridge, which offer artistic value, while still providing a service to society. Art can be found all around us; however, art is lost without people willing to embrace and appreciate it. In all actuality, art, as its primary purpose, serves to enrich our lives, but only brings pleasure to those who choose to see it.
My goal for this paper is to give a practical critique and defense of what I have learned in my time as a Studio Art Major. During my time here I have learned that Pensacola Christian college’s definition of art “art is the organized visual expression of ideas or feelings” and the four parts of Biblosophy: cannon, communication, client, and creativity. Along with Biblosophy I have studied Dr. Frances Schaeffer 's criteria for art, seeing how the technical, and the major and minor messages in artwork. All of these principles are great but they do need to be refined.
Noe, Raymond A., et al. Human Resource Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2010. Print.
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. “A Psalm of Life.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Seventh Shorter Edition. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2008. 645-6. Print.
The attempt to base a standard for assessing the value of works of art upon sentiment (the feeling of pleasure or displeasure) was famously made by David Hume in his essay "Of the Standard of Taste." Hume's attempt is generally regarded as fundamentally important in the project of explaining the nature of value judgements in the arts by means of an empirical, rather than a priori, relation. Recently, Hume's argument has been strongly criticized by Malcolm Budd in his book Values of Art. Budd contends that Hume utterly fails to show how any given value judgement in the arts can be more warranted or appropriate than any other if aesthetic judgements are determined by sentiment. This is a remarkable charge, since Hume explicitly sets out to introduce an aesthetic standard for "confirming one sentiment and condemning another." I examine Budd's arguments and conclude that Hume's position-and the empiricist tradition that it inaugurated-can withstand them.
Lengnick-Hall M.L.; Lengnick-Hall, C.A.; Andrade, L.S.; Drake, B. 2009. “Strategic human resource management: The evolution of the field.” Human Resource Management Review, 19, pp. 64-85.
“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance,” –Aristotle
A theory is expected to decide whether or not something is art. If one theory states that art cannot have certain qualities or must have certain qualities and we still consider it to be art, than the theory is rejected. Each of these theori...
Art is a topic that has been paid attention to by a number of people throughout the years. It has caught the attention of people belonging to various fields. They have their different interpretations of art. Leo Tolstoy in his essay ‘What is Art’ says “Art is not, as the metaphysicians say, the manifestation of some mysterious idea of beauty or God; it is not, as the aesthetical physiologists say, a game in which man lets off his excess of stored-up energy; it is not the expression of man’s emotions by external signs; it is not the production of pleasing objects; and, above all, it is not pleasure; but it is a means of union among men, joining them together in the same feelings, and indispensable for the life and progress toward well-being of individuals and of humanity.”
Stephen Davies, in the philosophy of art, argues, “The impulse to make and consume art is a product of biological evolution,” meaning that “art’s evolutionary significance, plays a crucial role in intensifying and enriching our lives in general, both as individuals and communities (Davies 3). Although I do not believe that art is a product of biological evolution, I do believe that art is valuable to society and does not impede on the development of humanity.
Even to those void of a formal art background, the world of traditional art is a realm held in high regard by nearly all. This elevation of art and artists is engrained into our culture, evident even in our own language – with common phrases such as ‘a work of art’ or ‘masterpiece’ used to express utmost skill and admiration. Yet, when asked to define art most would be clueless as where to begin, other than to perhaps describe feelings of awe at the skill of artists. However, admiration is a subjective matter so is clearly not a solid foundation for such a definition. To truly explore the definition of art, a fitting example would be to examine the work of French artist Marcel Duchamp and his famed ‘readymades.’ By placing these ordinary articles of life under the spotlight of a gallery, Duchamp shattered the traditional process of producing art that had existed for centuries, and subsequently triggered thinking about what constitutes as art.
For over two thousand years, various philosophers have questioned the influence of art in our society. They have used abstract reasoning, human emotions, and logic to go beyond this world in the search for answers about arts' existence. For philosophers, art was not viewed for its own beauty, but rather for the question of how art and artists can help make our society more stable for the next generation. Plato, a Greek philosopher who lived during 420-348 B.C. in Athens, and Aristotle, Plato’s student who argued against his beliefs, have no exceptions to the steps they had to take in order to understand the purpose of art and artists. Though these two philosophers made marvelous discoveries about the existence of art, artists, and aesthetic experience, Plato has made his works more controversial than Aristotle.
Cortez, Marc. Theological Anthropology: A Guide for the Perplexed. New York: T&T Clark International, 2010. Print.
Emotion and life are intertwined within the creations, unlocking another layer of humanity, bringing art its value and use. Despite the fact that art is a visual form meant to be looked at, there is much more usefulness to it than what meets the eye or that is taken into consideration.
Human’s have always struggled to express themselves. Art, is considered by many to be the ultimate form of human expression. Many assume that art has a definition, but this is not the case. Art, it can be said, is “in the eye of the beholder.” This simply means that what you consider art, someone else would not. Art is part of a person’s internal emotions, which signifies why different people see art as different things. Every type of culture and era presents distinctive and unique characteristics. Different cultures all have different views of what art can, and would be, causing art itself to be universally renowned throughout the world.
Subsequent to the study of different philosophies of art, as well as completing projects asking for personal preference in art as well as objective “fine art,” a personal philosophy may, by necessity, include subjective and objective facets. In determining what fine art is, the quality of universality is important. There also does not have to be a traditional presentation of beauty for a work of art to be fine art. Contrary to R. G. Collingwood’s philosophy, for fine art the culture and setting in which art is created should not matter, because if art is universal and timeless, meaning endures outside of where and when it was created. Evaluation of art can be subjective, but fine art is universally appreciated regardless of understanding background,