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 Reference
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.