THE ARTS: DEFINITIONS, AESTHETICS, KNOWLEDGE AND RELATION TO SCIENCE

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• THE ARTS DEFINITIONS, AESTHETICS, KNOWLEDGE AND
  RELATION TO SCIENCE

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What is Art?

• What distinguishes worthy art from junk?
• Must be manmade.
• Three basic criteria to consider
• Artists intention
• Quality of the work
• Response of the audience

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What is Art? Artist Intentions Criterion

• Something is art if created by someone for the
  purpose of evoking an aesthetic response in the
  audience.
• Artist wants to communicate something.
• Should not have a practical end in mind.
• Specific intent is to please or provoke audience.

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What is Art? Artist Intentions Criterion

• CRITICISMS
• No accounting for quality (desk example)
• Not sufficient enough to define art.
• Something not originally intended as art may now
  be treated as such or something meant to be art
  is simply junk.

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What is Art? Quality of the Work Criterion

• Closely associated with the idea of skill.
• Expect technical competence.
• Traditionally associated with idea of beauty
  with regard to form or content.
• Content what it depicts.
• Form The way art is put together.

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What is Art? Quality of the Work Criterion

• CRITICISMS
• May have competence but no originality
  (reproductions, calendars, etc.)
• Kitsch Knockoffs with no originality.
• Forgeries Artistic merit?
• Art can also involve originality yet little skill
  (Pop Art, action painting, etc.)

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What is Art? Response of Spectators Criterion

• CRITICISMS - Just as a joke requires a laugh, art
  requires a response from the audience to be art.
• Who comprises the relevant audience?
• Art is often time-period sensitive
• Experts help focus on things general public might
  miss or not appreciate.

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What is Art?

• Is Everything Art? No, but everything can be
  looked at from aesthetic point of view.
• Inexhaustibility Great art stands test of time
  and spark new insights upon each viewing.
• Time Ideal Spectator.

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Art and Aesthetic Judgments

• Essentially a Paradox There should exist
  standards of judgment and some are better than
  others, yet beauty is in the eye of the beholder
  and there is no universal taste.
• Can taste be learned? Developed?
• No way to argue about tastes they are
  subjective by nature.

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Should Aesthetic Judgments be Disinterested?

• KANT Can distinguish aesthetic judgment from
  taste in that aesthetic judgments are universal
  claims and have a sense of ought built into
  them.
• I like the painting vs. The painting is
  beautiful
• Aesthetics are disinterested ignore personal
  tastes and preferences for sake of universality.

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Should Aesthetic Judgments be Disinterested?

• Sports Can recognize a rival team is great
  (aesthetic) or refuse to accept its greatness
  (taste (and interested vs. disinterested)).

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Universal Standards of Art?

• Psychological Forces All humans have the same
  basic perceptual sources.
• Komar and Melamid Two Russian artists,
  discovered universally most popular paintings
  were landscapes where one can see without being
  seen.
• Could be a product of dominance of American
  culture.

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Universal Standards of Art?

• Cultural Differences While there exist some
  universally recognized aesthetically pleasing art
  forms, art varies widely across cultures.
• Eastern vs. Western foci.

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Art and Knowledge

• Three theories about the purpose of art
• Art as Imitation To copy reality
• (From Mimesis in Ancient Greece and practiced by
  Michelangelo and other 15th century artists.)
• Helped by development of perspective, hurt by
  invention of the camera in 19th century.
• Modern interpretation Art as creative
  reinterpretation of reality, subtly influences
  the way we experience the world.

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Art and Knowledge

• Art as Communication Convey a message
• Need to know language and vocabulary of art to
  appreciate and understand it, just as one does
  for language.
• Explores breadth (allows audience to experience
  situations beyond personal realm) and depth
  (emotional focus) of human experience (literature
  vs. music).

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Art and Knowledge

• Art as Education Shape behavior, attitudes and
  offer different role models.
• Art broadens our awareness of human condition,
  emotions, experience.
• Teaches ethics (literature, music) and allows for
  empathy with others.

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Art Plato and Aristotle

• Plato By inflaming emotions, art weakens our
  rationality. He banished artists from his ideal
  society for this reason.
• Aristotle Art purges or cleanses people of
  emotions (catharsis) therefore, it serves a
  valid societal purpose.

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Science, Art and Truth

• Artists claim science robbed world of mystery,
• while scientists term art a frivolous diversion.
• ART AND SCIENCE SIMILARITIES
• Both art and science try to make sense of the
  world through patterns.
• Both rely on reason and imagination.
• DIFFERENCES Scientific laws are discovered, art
  is invented. (Or are they?)

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Science, Art and Truth

• Science and Art as Complimentary Both provide a
  balanced way to view the world.
• Science looks at things from the outside, art
  looks at things from the inside.
• Arts and Truth Paradox of Fiction fiction
  sometimes reveals deeper truths about human
  condition.

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The End