PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES

ON ART
LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Explain and discuss the basic philosophical
perspectives on the art,
• Apply concepts and theories on beauty and
aesthetics in real life scenarios.
ART AS AN IMITATION

• In Plato’s The Republic, paints a picture of

artists as imitators and art as mere
imitation.

• In his description of the ideal republic,

Plato advises against the inclusion of art
as a subject in the curriculum and the
banning of artists in the Republic.
ART AS AN IMITATION

• 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.
• For example, 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.
ART AS AN IMITATION

• Plato was convinced that artists

merely reinforce the belief in copies
and discourage men to reach for the
real entities in the World of Forms.
ART AS AN IMITATION

• Plato was deeply suspicious of arts and

artists for two reasons:
1. They appeal to the emotion rather to the
rational faculty of men
2. They imitate rather than lead one to
reality
ART AS AN IMITATION

• Poetry rouses emotions and feelings and

thus, clouds rationality of people.
• Art is just an imitation of imitation. A
painting is just an imitation of nature,
which is also just an imitation of reality in
the World of Forms.
ART AS AN IMITATION

• Art then is to be banished, alongside the

practitioners, 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 a petty replacement for the real
entities than can only be attained through
reason.
ART AS A REPRESENTATION

• Aristotle, agreed with Plato that art is a form of

imitation.
• However, Aristotle considered art as an aid to
philosophy in revealing the truth.
• The kind of imitation that art does is not
antithetical to the reaching of fundamental truths
in the world.
 ART AS A REPRESENTATION

• Unlike Plato who thought that art is an imitation of

another imitation, Aristotle conceived of art as
representing possible versions of reality.

• For Aristotle, all kinds of art do not aim to represent

reality as it is, it endeavors to provide a version of
what might be or the myriad possibilities of reality.
ART AS A REPRESENTATION

• In Aristotelian worldview, art serves

two particular purposes:
• Art allows for the experience of pleasure
(horrible experience can be made an object of
humor)
• Art also has an ability to be instructive and
teach its audience things about life (cognitive)
ART AS A DISINTERESTED JUDGMENT

• Immanuel Kant, in his Critique of Judgment,

considered the judgment of beauty, the
cornerstone of art, as something that can be
universal despite its subjectivity.
• Kant recognized that judgment of beauty is
subjective.
• However, even subjective judgments are based
on some universal criterion for the said
judgment.
ART AS A DISINTERESTED JUDGMENT

HOW AND IN WHAT SENSE CAN A

JUDGMENT OF BEAUTY, WHICH
ORDINARILY IS CONSIDERED TO
BE A SUBJECTIVE FEELING, BE
CONSIDERED OBJECTIVE OR
UNIVERSAL?
 HOW ARE THESE TWO STATEMENTS
DIFFERENT?

1. “I like this painting.”

2. “This painting is beautiful.”

• The first is clearly a judgment of taste
(subjective), while the second is an aesthetic
judgment (objective).
• Making an aesthetic judgment requires us to be
disinterested. In other words, we should try to
go beyond our individual tastes and preferences
so that we can appreciate art from a universal
standpoint.
 ART AS A COMMUNICATION OF
EMOTION

• According to Leo Tolstoy, art plays a huge

role in communication to its audience’s
emotions that the artist previously
experienced.
• In the same that language communicates
information to other people, art
communicates emotions.
 ART AS A COMMUNICATION OF
EMOTION

• As a purveyor of man’s innermost feelings and

thoughts, art is given a unique opportunity to
serve as a mechanism for social unity.
• Art is central to man’s existence because it
makes accessible feelings and emotions
of people from the past and present.
Assignment
1 page only.
A4
1 inch Margin (both sides)
Font Size: 12 inches
Font style: Tahoma
Spacing: 1.5 inch

Submission Date:
On or Before January 31, 2020

Late Submission will not be accepted.

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS AS
PRECISELY YET AS THOROUGHLY AS
POSSIBLE. (Guide Questions)
1. What art form/artwork has changed something
in your life? Why Account for the experience.
2. Does art always have a function? Why?
Support your response. Provide your own
example.
3. If an artwork ceased to have a function, will it
remain an art? Why?