Can Art Be Defined Philosophically? The Debate Continues

Understanding how definitions come into being leads to the suggestion that defining any kind of art entails some degree of philosophical participation. Of course, the words art and philosophy are broad in scope. While any attempts to define art may prove to be less than adequate, philosophy invariably comes into play with respect to its definition.

      

What is art?

Oxforddictionaries.com defines art as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power”.

Art also takes other forms including those that are written or auditory and may include a lack of beauty or emotional power, too. 

According to dictionary.com, art is “the quality, production, expression or realm according to aesthetic principles of what is beautiful, appealing or of more than ordinary significance”. It also includes “the class of objects subject to aesthetic criteria” or “a field, genre or category”.

On the other hand, among its multiplicity of definitions, the word philosophy includes the love of wisdom demonstrable in various art forms.

The freedictionary.com suggests that philosophy is “love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means and moral self-discipline” as well as “the discipline comprising logic, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics and epistemology”.    

Philosophy is part of life experience and any definitions common to life experience can have a philosophical basis linked to the inevitable human aesthetic response to art forms from various realms. To exclude philosophical definition would be to deny the reality of human involvement in life, or life experiences.

At the same time, no two human experiences are identical, or always comprehended in the same light. Selectivity of definition may be restricted to personal experience and thus for one person, philosophy may not be perceived in a definition, while for another it is an important aspect.    

How to define anything is problematic to some extent, as human perception varies considerably along with human experience.

What is likely to be part of its definition is one’s perception of art, in conjunction with his or her human experience of it. While there may be some consistency with regard to perception and experience, there is no guarantee. More than one definition or basis for definition may be applicable and appropriate. What can happen is that definitions become other expressions of art or art forms based upon life experience and perception, positive or negative. Whether one can define art philosophically can be controversial simply because it is difficult, if not impossible to place limits on philosophy, art or any definitions thereof.