How can Art be Defined

The search for a definition of Art has been subject of a complex philosophical reflection incorporated; however, within different thematics because the very idea of Art is changeable as it relies on the culture and the tradition of a particular epoch.

Etymologically, the word Aesthetics derives from the Greek àisthesis, which means perception by the senses. It used to refer as the study of the world of perceptions as the doctrine aimed to discover the complexity of perceptive knowledge.

In ancient times, the concept of Art was closely related to the practice with the technique which Plato argued were, certainly, not positive.

According to the philosopher, Art and Tragedy are copies of copies, the copies of the sensible world. He argues that there is a crisis on moral grounds: Art encourages and stimulates passions inducing human beings' to approach them.

For Aristotle on the contrary, the creation of an Artwork allows for the materialization of an idea and then its manifestation. According to the philosopher, beauty is order and symmetry and Art represents its imitation, not limited just to the reproduction of the sensible world.

There then came a complete revaluation of the concept of Art that Plato despised, with new ideas explaining Art as not representing the imitation of the sensible world, but of ideas themselves. In other words, Art mimics the universal.

Furthermore, Aristotle introduces the term “catharsis” or purification, showing how Art allowed for the rationalization of passions and the consequent control of them.

Only during the eighteen century, the independent philosophical discipline that relates to the beauty of Art, namely Aesthetics, became an effective method of study.

The German philosopher Baumgarten,...

... middle of paper ...

... The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/art-definition/.

Beardsley, M., An Aesthetic Definition of Art, in H. Curtler, ed., What Is Art? (New York: Haven Publications, 1983) Reprinted in Lamarque and Olsen, eds. Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004), pp.55-62.

Dickie, G., What Is Art?: An Institutional Analysis, in his Art and the Aesthetic (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1974), ch.1.

Gaut, B., Art as a Cluster Concept, in N. Carroll, ed., Theories of Art Today (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2000), pp.25-44.

Levinson, J., Defining Art Historically, British Journal of Aesthetics, 19 (1979): 232-50.Reprinted in Lamarque and Olsen, eds. Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004), pp.35-46.