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Single Idea 20439

[filed under theme 21. Aesthetics / B. Nature of Art / 5. Art as Language ]

Full Idea

Artistic symbols are to be judged for the classifications they bring about, for how novel and insightful those classifications are, for how they change our world perceptions and relations.

Gist of Idea

Artistic symbols are judged by the fruitfulness of their classifications

Source

report of Nelson Goodman (Languages of Art (2nd edn) [1968]) by Alessandro Giovannelli - Nelson Goodman (aesthetics) 4

Book Ref

'Key Thinkers in Aesthetics', ed/tr. Giovannelli,Alessandro [Continuum 2012], p.178


A Reaction

This seems to be an awfully long way from our normal experience of art. I understand 'symbols' in early Flemish art, but not in Mondriaan, or even Rembrandt.


The 4 ideas from 'Languages of Art (2nd edn)'

Artistic symbols are judged by the fruitfulness of their classifications [Goodman, by Giovannelli]
A performance is only an instance of a work if there is not a single error [Goodman]
A copy only becomes an 'instance' of an artwork if there is a system of notation [Goodman]
Art is a referential activity, hence indefinable, but it has a set of symptoms [Goodman]