more on this theme
|
more from this text
Single Idea 20392
[filed under theme 21. Aesthetics / B. Nature of Art / 1. Defining Art
]
Full Idea
'Aesthetic functionalism' maintains that something is an artwork if it is intended to provide the person who contemplates it for its own sake with an aesthetic experience of a significant magnitude on the basis of its aesthetic features.
Gist of Idea
'Aesthetic functionalism' says art is what is intended to create aesthetic experiences
Source
Stephen Davies (The Philosophy of Art (2nd ed) [2016], 2.5)
Book Ref
Davies,Stephen: 'The Philosophy of Art (2nd ed)' [Wiley Blackwell 2016], p.33
A Reaction
[Beardsley is cited as having this view] For this you need to know what an aesthetic 'feature' is, and you'd have to indepdently recognise aesthetic experience.
The
24 ideas
from Stephen Davies
20387
|
Aesthetic experience involves perception, but also imagination and understanding
[Davies,S]
|
20385
|
The faculty of 'taste' was posited to explain why only some people had aesthetic appreciation
[Davies,S]
|
20386
|
The sublime is negative in awareness of insignificance, and positive in showing understanding
[Davies,S]
|
20384
|
The idea that art forms are linked into a single concept began in the 1740s
[Davies,S]
|
20388
|
'Necessary' conditions are requirements, and 'sufficient' conditions are guarantees
[Davies,S]
|
20389
|
A definition of a thing gives all the requirements which add up to a guarantee of it
[Davies,S]
|
20391
|
Feminists warn that ideologies use timeless objective definitions as a tool of repression
[Davies,S]
|
20390
|
Defining art as representation or expression or form were all undermined by the avant-garde
[Davies,S]
|
20392
|
'Aesthetic functionalism' says art is what is intended to create aesthetic experiences
[Davies,S]
|
20393
|
The 'institutional' theory says art is just something appropriately placed in the 'artworld'
[Davies,S]
|
20395
|
The title of a painting can be vital, and the artist decrees who the portrait represents
[Davies,S]
|
20396
|
We must know what the work is meant to be, to evaluate the artist's achievement
[Davies,S]
|
20397
|
If we could perfectly clone the Mona Lisa, the original would still be special
[Davies,S]
|
20398
|
Art that is multiply instanced may require at least one instance
[Davies,S]
|
20399
|
Intentionalism says either meaning just is intention, or ('moderate') meaning is successful intention
[Davies,S]
|
20401
|
The meaning is given by the audience's best guess at the author's intentions
[Davies,S]
|
20402
|
Music is too definite to be put into words (not too indefinite!)
[Davies,S]
|
20404
|
Music isn't just sad because it makes the listener feel sad
[Davies,S]
|
20405
|
Music may be expressive by being 'associated' with other emotional words or events
[Davies,S]
|
20403
|
It seems unlikely that sad music expresses a composer's sadness; it takes ages to write
[Davies,S]
|
22706
|
A work which seeks approval for immorality, but alienates the audience, is a failure
[Davies,S]
|
22704
|
Immorality may or may not be an artistic defect
[Davies,S]
|
22705
|
If the depiction of evil is glorified, that is an artistic flaw
[Davies,S]
|
22707
|
It is an artistic defect if excessive moral outrage distorts the story, and narrows our sympathies
[Davies,S]
|