What is the Philosophy of Art?

by Giuliana Calé

Edited by Taruni Manam & Manushri Bapat, Layout by Inchara J, Artwork by Sanjna Mootakoduru

What is the philosophy of art? First of all, it’s important to understand and distinguish the concept of the two words, philosophy and art. In literal terms, philosophy is the “love of wisdom. ” Therefore, philosophy can be defined as the thirst for wisdom and knowledge, often accompanied by the feeling of doubt or wonder. As for art, it can be defined as the creation of something meaningful using one’s imagination. Consequently, the philosophy of art is the study of the nature of art which has the objective of understanding the artistic concept.

Furthermore, the job of a philosopher of art is to question and examine the basic artistic concepts to reach a conclusion about art, aesthetic values, and expression. This practice is accompanied by thousands of inquiries. As expected, one of the largest and earliest inquiries in this area of study is the definition of art. whatwhatwhat philosophilosophiloso arararAs stated above, art can be defined as the creation of something through a person’s creativity. However, there have been numerous theories over the years as to what is art. One aspect that they all have in common is the idea that art is something made by a human being. Hence, a waterfall or the stars shining in the night sky can be the most beautiful thing in the world but cannot be considered art because they weren’t made by human hands.

That being said, it’s clear that this definition is rather vague. Therefore, a distinction was made between fine art and useful art. Fine art is all that is created with the sole intention of causing an aesthetic pleasure, such as paintings, sculptures, poems, etc. On the other hand, useful art consists of inventions with the primary objective of a useful function that can also be admired for their aesthetic dimension, such as cars, buildings, furniture, etc.

Through these analyses and evaluations, philosophers were able to come up with a concept called The Mediums of Art. This concept is based on three items to consider regarding every single work of art. They are: the creation of the artwork; the final piece obtained; and the effect it has on its viewers. This was a way of facilitating the observation and interpretation of art for critics and casual art lovers.

This tool was of extreme importance to the philosophy of art. Due to The Mediums of Art, philosophers were able to understand the expression, meaning, form, interpretation and many other fundamental elements of art. Thanks to this philosophical concept, society was able to unravel various outstanding pieces of art, like the tragedies present in Romeo and Juliet, or the mystery behind the Mona Lisa’s smile, or the passion behind The Birth of Venus. So next time you come across a piece of art, do as our fellow philosophers and examine it a little deeper.