Now that increasing numbers of people are stuck at home and sheltering in place, I figured I’d do a little series. Every weekday for the duration of this intense period, I’ll post a short definition of some term in/related to aesthetics and philosophy of art. Let’s see how this goes! See them all here.
Term of the Day #2:
philosophy of art
Pronunciation: nothing special here

Adolf Bierbrauer, Case F III, (1953) [source]
- What is art?
- What is good art?
- How do we determine meaning in art?
- How much do artists’ intentions matter?
- How does art represent the world or reflect our experience?
- How does art communicate anything its audience?
- Do different artistic forms do this differently?
- Is morally better art better?
- What role does art have to play in society?
- Why do we care so much about art?
- And on and on and on.
Not to be confused with:
(1) aesthetics – about things like beauty (taste, etc.) in general, rather than as it specifically pertains to art; e.g., you can ask questions about our aesthetic experience of nature (from sunsets to human bodies), but those wouldn’t technically be philosophy of art questions