Hi Edward,
Maria Damon is visiting us and we're making work, but I want to point out
a couple of things which may or may not resonate with you.
First, "art" is culturally-bound; many cultures have no word that cover
the same set of criteria, etc. Second, Boudieu, in Distinction, points out
that the word has different meanings depending on what he calls cultural
capital, which also ties into Wittgenstein's notions of language games.
Universals are problematic in terms of language; Kripke has a theory of
"natural kinds" which implies that universals are "there" in the world, no
matter what the culture/language etc.; the book's Language and Necessity.
I tend to see cultures and terms like "art" as widely differing; I know
from my limited knowledge of Hebrew, say, that there are things which, at
least to me, appear deeply untranslatable. So while I argue for science
and mathematics as areas which can deeply describe the real to varying
degrees of tolerance, I also believe, when it comes to culture, that
universals fall apart...
Best!, Alan
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