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21. Aesthetics / B. Nature of Art / 1. Defining Art

[possibility of a general definition of art]

10 ideas
Aestheticism invites artist to create beauty, but with no indication of how to do it [Bell,C]
Art is the expression of an emotion for ultimate reality [Bell,C]
Art (like philosophy) establishes a relation between world and self, and between oneself and others [Weil]
Art is a referential activity, hence indefinable, but it has a set of symptoms [Goodman]
We should first decide what are the great works of art, with aesthetic theory following from that [Murdoch]
A criterion of identity for works of art would be easier than a definition [Wollheim]
Early 20th cent attempts at defining art focused on significant form, intuition, expression, unity [Lamarque/Olson]
The idea that art forms are linked into a single concept began in the 1740s [Davies,S]
Defining art as representation or expression or form were all undermined by the avant-garde [Davies,S]
'Aesthetic functionalism' says art is what is intended to create aesthetic experiences [Davies,S]