Philosophical

Perspectives of Art
Art as an Imitation

• Plato in his masterpiece, The Republic, particularly paints a picture of

artists as imitators and art as mere imitation.
• The things in this world are only copies of the original, eternal, and the
true entities that can only be found in the World of Forms.
• (Ex. The chair that one sits on is not a real chair. It is an imperfect copy
of the perfect “chair” in the World of Forms.
• 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.
• Socrates on the other hand claims that art is just an imitation of
imitation
Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh
Art as Representation

• Aristotle considered art as an aid to philosophy in revealing truth.

• Aristotle conceives art as representing possible versions of reality

• Aristotelian Worldview:
1. Art allows for the experience of pleasure
2. Art also has an ability to be instructive and teach its audience things
about life, thus it is cognitive as well.
Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali
Art as Disinterested Judgement

• Immanuel Kant considered the judgement of beauty, the

cornerstone of art, as something that can be universal despite its
subjectivity.
• Judgment of beauty is subjective.
Girl with Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer
Art as a Communication of Emotion

• Leo Tolstoy says that art serves as a language, a communication

device that articulates feelings and emotions that are otherwise
unavailable to the audience.
• Art is given a unique opportunity to serve as a mechanism for
social unity.
The Scream by Edvard Munch