Do we know art when we see it? philosophical explorations in aesthetics

Abstract

Never in history was art more present everywhere and never was it more valuable. Yet, in the wake of Duchamp and Warhol, the understanding of what art is and how it is recognized is more problematic today than any time in history. This paper examines the various approaches to how one recognizes a work of art as a work of art. It examines the history of aesthetic theory and the variousways art was defined. In the end it considers the value of the more hermeneutic and holistic interpretations of art put forward by Heidegger, Gadamer, Danto and Beuys.