Functions and

Philosophical
Perspectives on
Art
 Functions of Art
Personal Functions of
01 Art
Social Functions of
02 Art
Physical Functions of
03 Art Other Functions of
04 Art
01 Personal
Functions
 depends on the person- the artist who
created the art.
 for self expression (communicating
ideas or entertainment).
 Therapeutic.
 Social
02 Functions
 if and when it addresses a
particular collective interest as
opposed to personal interest.
 art may convey message of protest , contestation,
or what ever an artist intends his work to carry.
 art can also depict social conditions.
  Artworks that are crafted in order to serve
some physical purpose.
 architecture, jewelry-making, and
interior designs are forms of art
that have physical functions.

Physical
03 Functions
 MUSIC – used for dance and religion.
– instrument to facilitate worship and
invocation.
– essential to dance for synchronicity among
dancers.
–a wonderful accompaniment to stage plays
and motion pictures.

Other
04 Functions
 SCULPTURE – made for religion(Roman Catholic).
– commemorate important figures.(Jose Rizal-
Rizal Park, Andres Bonifacio-Caloocan, Oblation
Statue by Guillermo Tolentino, coins)

Other
04 Functions
 ARCHITECTURE – most prominent functional art
form.
– huge, expensive and not easily
constructed and replaced.
– in planning, one has to seriously consider the
natural conditions like topography and climate and social
conditions like the purpose of the building itself.

Other
04 Functions
Philosophical
Perspectives
on Art
Philosophical Perspectives
on Art
01 Art as Art
Imitation
as a
02 Representation
03 Art as Arta Disinterested Judgment
as a Communication of
04 Emotion
 Art as
01 Imitation
In Plato’s metaphysics/view of reality, the things in this
world are only copies of the original, the eternal that
can only be found in the World of Forms.
Plato is critical on the effects of art.
Poetry rouses emotions and feelings
that affects the thinking of people. It
has the capacity to sway minds.
 Art as
01 Imitation
Likewise, Socrates is worried that art objects
represents only the things in this world, copies
themselves of reality

Socrates claimed that art

is an imitation of imitation.
 Art as a
02 Representation
Aristotle considered as art as an aid to philosophy in
revealing the truth.

Aristotle conceived of art as representing possible

versions of reality.
 Art as a
02 Representation
Aristotelian Worldview
• Art allows for the experience of pleasure.
• Art has an ability to be instructive and teach its
audience things about life; thus it is cognitive as
well.
 Art as a
03 Disinterested
Judgment
In the third critique that Immanuel
Kant wrote, the “Critique of Judgement”
Kant considered the judgement of beauty, the
cornerstone of art, as something that can be universal
despite its subjectivity.
 Art as a
04 Communication
of Emotion

In the book, What is Art(2016) by Leo

Tolstoy. For him, art plays a huge role in
communication to its audience’s emotions
that the artist previously experienced.
Art then serves as a language, a
communication device that articulates
feelings and emotions that are otherwise
unavailable to the audience.
Lesson Summary
Art has remained relevant in our daily lives
because most of it has played some form of
function for man.
The different functions of art may be classified
as either personal, social, or physical.
Art may serve either as imitation,
representation, a disinterested judgment, or
simply a communication of emotion.