William, commenting on Mike Mallory's disquisition about "art", writes:
> But we don't know what an aesthetic experience is.
> And there is art which does not intend an aesthetic
> experience but does evoke it anyway, or once does and
> then does not. Your model gives the artist too much
> authority. . .
> Your model fails on several counts, including the
> transience the identity of the artist and the
> uncertain location of intentonality.
>
The question is, is what William and Mike are talking about a description of
what "art" allegedly "IS", or merely a description by Mike of what he chooses
to CALL art? In other words, is Mike merely giving a stipulative definition,
"If a work does/is such and such," I call it art"?
If it's the latter, then William's observation that it fails is inapt. All
Mike is saying is "This si what I call art." It's absurd for William to say,
"No, you're wrong -- that's not what you call art."
So, presumably, William has an insight into what "art" IS, and Mike's
description of it is WRONG.
Interestingly, William believes a sunset can be "art":
"the sunset can be beautiful or art without
being translated into some "fictional" medium."
Mike said that to be "art" a work must cause an a.e.. William seeks to indict
this thinking:
"Many people think the sunset and is the best
artwork they know...and say nothing to anyone."
But as a rebuttal of Mike's position, this would seem not to work, because
Mike stipulates only that an a.e. occur, not that it needs to be known to have
occurred.
Luckily for me, I don't have to say what I have in mind when I use the word
'art' because I never use it (though I often MENTION the WORD). Nevertheless I
can remark in support of William that, though Mike's definition has some
virtues, I doubt it would be thought to be acceptable by many listers as a
stipulated definition -- i.e. a guide to when to use the word 'art'.
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