Does art have any

purpose?

Do all artworks have a

function?
Functions and
Philosophical
Perspectives on
Art
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Greek philosopher
Aristotle claimed that
every particular
substance in the
world has an END or
TELOS.
TELOS = PURPOSE

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Aristotle claimed that: - A seed is bound to become a full-
- Every substance, grown plant.
defined as a formed - A cocoon can look forward to flying
high when it becomes a butterfly.
matter, moves
- A baby will eventually turn into a
according to a fixed full-grown man or woman.
path toward its aim.

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 Man is bound to
- This TELOS is For a thing to
achieve a life of
intricately reach its fulfillment and
linked with purpose, it also happiness or in
FUNCTION. has to fulfill its Greek
function. eudaimonia

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 However,
happiness
(supposed end of
man) is linked with
his function, his
being rational

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Man’s natural end (telos) is connected with his
function which is rationality.

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The telos and function of a thing are both related
to a thing’s identity.

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What makes a human
being a human being
is his capacity for
thinking, his supposed
function. Without this
function, the human
being ceases to be a
human being.

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- Does art necessarily Does it have any
have an end purpose?
(purpose)? Do all artworks have a
- When an artist creates function?
a work of art, does he Does the function make
have an end in mind? an object a work of art?
- What function does an
artwork perform?
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Functions of Art
 Functions of Art:
1. Personal (public display or
expression)
2. Social (to affect collective behavior)
I3. Physical (utilitarian)

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The functions An artist may Often, the artist
depend on the create an art may not even
person – the out of the need intend to mean
artist who for self anything with
created the art. expression. his work.

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Art is considered to have a social function if
and when it addresses a particular collective
interest.

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The physical functions of art can be found in artworks
that are crafted in order to serve some physical
purpose.
- Architecture, jewelry making and even interior design
are all forms of arts that have physical function.

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- Music was principally functional. It
was used for dance and religion.
- The ancient world saw music only
as an instrument to facilitate
worship and invocation to gods.

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 Whenever art
serves a particular
function, the form
has to be
determined by the
function.

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Does art always
have to be
functional?

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 The value of a
work of art does
not depend on
function but on the
work itself.

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 Philosophical
Perspectives on
Art
Plato (The Republic):
- In Plato’s metaphysics or view
of reality, the things in this world
are only copies of the original,
the eternal, and the true entities
that can only be found in the
World of Forms

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Plato was deeply suspicious of arts and artists for two reasons:
1. They appeal to the emotion rather than to the rational faculty
of men.
2. They imitate rather than lead one to reality.

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Plato is critical of the effects of art, specifically, poetry to the
people of ideal state. Poetry rouses emotions and feelings and
thus, clouds the rationality of people.

Poetry has a capacity to sway minds without taking into

consideration the proper use of reason. As such, it leads one
further away from the cultivation of the intellect that Plato
campaigned for.

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The arts then are to be banished so that the attitudes
and actions of the members of the Republic will not be
corrupted by the influence of the arts. For Plato, art is
dangerous because it provides petty replacement for
the real entities that can only be attained through
reason.

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Aristotle considered art as an aid to philosophy
in revealing truth.
The kind of imitation that art does is not
antithetical to the reaching of fundamental
truths in the world.

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Unlike Plato who thought that art is an imitation
of another imitation, Aristotle conceived art as
representing possible versions of reality.

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Aristotle in The Poetics claimed that poetry is a
literary representation in general. Poetry only
admits of an attempt to represent what things
might be.

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For Aristotle, all kinds of art, including poetry, music,
dance, painting, and sculpture do not aim to represent
reality as it is. What ART endeavors to do is to
provide a VISION of what might be or the myriad
possibilities in reality.
Unlike Plato who thought that art is an imitation of
another imitation, Aristotle conceived art as
representing possible versions of reality.
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Art serves two particular purposes:
1. Art allows for the experience of pleasure
2. Art has an ability to be instructive and
teach its audience things about life.

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Immanuel Kant in the
“Critique of Judgment”:
- Kant considered the
judgment of beauty, the
cornerstone of art, as
something that can be
universal, despite its
subjectivity.
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Immanuel Kant mentioned that
judgment of beauty, and
therefore, art is innately
autonomous from specific
interests.
- It is a form of art that is adjudged
by one who perceives art to be
beautiful or more so, SUBLIME.
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Kant recognized that judgment of beauty is
subjective.
Even subjective judgments are based on some
universal criterion for the said judgment.
[How and in what sense can a judgment of beauty
which ordinarily is considered to be a subjective
feeling be considered universal? How is this so?]

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For Kant, when one judges a particular
painting as beautiful, one in effect is saying
that the said painting has induced a particular
feeling of satisfaction from him and that he
expects the painting to rouse the same
feeling from anyone.

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There is something in the work of art
that makes it capable of inciting the
same feeling of pleasure and
satisfaction from any perceiver,
regardless of his condition.

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× Our feelings about beauty differ from our feelings about
pleasure and moral goodness in that they are disinterested.
We seek to possess pleasurable objects, and we seek to
promote moral goodness, but we simply appreciate beauty
without feeling driven to find some use for it. Judgments of
taste are universal because they are disinterested: our
individual wants and needs do not come into play when
appreciating beauty, so our aesthetic response applies
universally. Aesthetic pleasure comes from the free play
between the imagination and understanding when perceiving
an object.

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For Kant:
Every human being should recognize the
beauty that is inherent in a work of art. This is
the kind of universality that a judgment of
beauty is assumed by Kant to have.

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When the same person says that something
is beautiful, he does not just believe that the
thing is beautiful for him, but in a sense,
expects that the same thing should put
everyone in awe.

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Leo Tolstoy

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For Leo Tolstoy, art plays a huge role in
communication to its audience’s emotions that
the artist previously experienced.
Art – serves as a language, a communication
device that articulates feelings and emotions
that are otherwise unavailable to the audience.

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× Art is central to man’s existence because it
makes accessible feelings and emotions of
people from the past and present, from one
continent to another. In making these
possibly latent feelings and emotions
accessible to anyone.

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Thanks!
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