I wrote: " Derek believes he espies absolute metaphysical categories: "This work IS art, that other work IS NOT art." I believe such categories are mythical."
Derek responded: "I have denied this a million times..." Alas, Derek, I've found it'd be unreasonable to try to reason with you -- in this case with the aim of prompting you to concede you do believe in an "is-ness" to "art" and in absolute categories of art/artworks/artness, so I'll simply quote you. All of the following are from postings by you. An hour spent in the archives would, I'm sure, turn up many, many more. ***** I don't think a great sports event is in the same category as a great work of art, and any theory of art that said it was would, for me, be very suspect. things like Bouguereau's paintings, and e.g. airport novels or pop songs, are in fact not 'bad art' because they are not art at all. They have the same general observable characteristics as art - e.g. an airport novel is a novel just as 'Crime and Punishment' is - but they in fact belong to quite different categories of human artefact. There is a difference in *kind* between jazz (rock or pop) and Mozart. One is art the other is not. I think Malraux hits the nail on the head when he says 'art is defined by its poles not by its borders.' b& trying to define the borders is not applicable to artb& it is ignoring the nature of the thing it is studying [i.e. art]. 'What is art?' (which is the central problem of the philosophy of art today I would argue.) What is the function of art in human life? I have worked out now what I think the purpose of art is and I think it is a very important one. If all reference to art were instantly removed from the planet and the thought of "art" as we know it was removed from our brains, would we re-invent art (assuming we did) for 'entertainment' , to 'express ourselves', to 'decorate our world' (all of which have been suggested as reasons by various writers) or for some other reason. I think 'some other reason'. I do not, as I have said, think one can *prove* why any given work is a work of art - though I am not against 'analysing' the characteristics of a work to the extent possible. ************** Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family favorites at AOL Food. (http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001)
