Beauty and the Quest For Objectivity
Today it is customary to assume that ‘beauty is in the eye of
the beholder’ rather than in the nature of things themselves. The neurosis of
contemporary art is based on this idea that aesthetic values are relative. In
this series of papers I explore the roots of this idea, showing how the
philosophy of the Enlightenment is ultimately responsible for the assumed
subjectivity, and the corollary decline, of beauty.
Art and the Search for Meaning
Building on the ground covered in the previous essay, this
essay explores some of the broader artistic ramifications of Enlightenment
theory in the contemporary art scene.
Over the last three hundred years art has evolved into an
autonomous concept and, consequently, lost the dignity and vitality they once
enjoyed. In this manifesto I have suggested that this trend can be reversed
only through rejecting the idea of ‘art for art’s sake’ and rediscovering the
function art once enjoyed as the servant of man.
Forgery is not simply an ethical problem, it also raises
profound philosophical questions concerning the criterion by which we ascribe aesthetic
value to works. For example, why is it that a work can receive highest critical
acclaim whilst thought to have been painted by a master and then, when the
forgery is exposed, the work is no longer admired for it’s aesthetic
properties, as in the case of the notorious Van Megereen forgieries? In this
essay I have used such questions as a basis by which to make a radical proposal
about imitative art.
What role, if any, does the intention of the artist play in
the evaluation and interpretation of artworks? It is customary for contemporary
theorists to deny that intention has any relevance to evaluation and
interpretation. I argue otherwise.
The
philosopher R. G. Collingwood argued that works of art do not exist in the real
world but, rather, exist in the mind of the artist. He reached this conclusion
through a definition of art that distinguished it sharply from craft and
divorced it from any element of technique. In this essay I have tried to show
that Collingwood’s theory is theoretically unsound and practically inconsistent
with the way in which many artists work.
The
Question of Authentic Performance
In
recent years there has been a movement in the music world for ‘authentic
performance’, meaning music played in the style and on the instruments from the
time in which it was written. In this essay I consider some of the arguments
for and against this movement.
In this
essay I have tried to explain the main aspects of Immanuel Kant’s aesthetic
theory, while pointing out one or two ways in which the theory is inconsistent
with real experience.
Many thinkers from the ancient Greeks to the present day
have grappled with the question of why tragedy, with all its sorrow and tears,
should apparently be a source of pleasure to audiences. In this essay I explore
a solution to this paradox that was proposed by the 18th century
philosopher David Hume, followed by a counter-theory proposed by the
contemporary philosopher Susan Feagin. After explaining why I find both these
theories to be inadequate, I offer some suggestions regarding a possible answer
to the puzzle.
This short piece consists more of an explanation than an argument, for why I object to music with a heavy beat.
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