The irreducible historicality of the concept of art

British Journal of Aesthetics

Volumn 42, Issue 4, 2002, Pages 367-379

  Levinson, Jerrold ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 63149154295     PISSN: 00070904     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/bjaesthetics/42.4.367     Document Type: Review

References (27)

1. It has even been argued that this may be true of all artefact concepts, artistic and non-artistic alike. See Paul Bloom, 'Intention, History, and Artifact Concepts', Cognition, vol. 60 (1996), pp. 1-29. I comment briefly on Bloom's intriguing suggestion at the end of this essay.
2. Jean-Pierre Cometti's 'Misère - ou grandeur - de l'historicisme?', in J.-P. Cometti (ed.), Definitions de l'art (Bruxelles: La lettre volée, 2002), has helped me to see the importance of dissociating the minimal historicism of art claimed by my theory from more robust historicisms of a Hegelian or Dantoesque sort, such as ascribe to the development of art an inherent goal, or view the development of art as governed by inherent laws of stylistic evolution. In that light, it might have been better to denominate my theory of art a retrospectivist or autoreferentialist one, rather than a historicist one, so as to avoid such associations.
3. See Jerrold Levinson 'Defining Art Historically' [1979] and 'Refining Art Historically' [1989], both in Music, Art, and Metaphysics (Ithaca, NY: Cornell U.P., 1990);
4. and 'Extending Art Historically' [1993], in The Pleasures of Aesthetics (Ithaca, NY: Cornell U.P., 1996).
5. In addition, I have replied to criticisms of my views in a couple of shorter pieces: 'A Refiner's Fire: Reply to Sartwell and Kolak', Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 48 (1990), pp. 231-235,
6. and 'Art Historically Defined: Reply to Oppy', British Journal of Aesthetics, vol. 33 (1993), pp. 380-385.
7. See also Robert Stecker, Artworks: Definition, Meaning Value (University Park: Penn State U.P., 1997), ch. 5, pp. 88-98 for a synthetic reconstruction and critical examination of my definition of art.
8. These were queried vigorously by Noël Carroll in his 'Identifying Art', in R. Yanal (ed.), Institutions of Art (University Park: Penn State U.P., 1994), pp. 3-39.
9. See Graham Oppy, 'On Defining Art Historically', British Journal of Aesthetics, vol. 32 (1992), pp. 153-161.
10. Some of Oppy's criticisms are anticipated in Stephen Davies, Definitions of Art (Ithaca, NY: Cornell U.P., 1991).
11. See, for example, Tom Leddy, 'The Socratic Quest in Art and Philosophy' Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 51 (1993). pp. 399-410.
12. See Noël Carroll, 'Historical Narratives and the Philosophy of Art', Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 51 (1993), pp. 313-326.
13. See Carroll, 'Identifying Art', pp. 33-34.
14. See Stephen Davies, 'First Art and Art's Definition', Southern Journal of Philosophy, vol. 35 (1997), pp. 19-34.
15. See Gregory Currie, 'Aliens, Too', Analysis, vol. 53 (1993), pp. 116-118.
16. For another reply to Currie, see Robert Stecker, 'Alien Objections to Historical Definitions of Art', British Journal of Aesthetics, vol. 36 (1996), pp. 305-308,
17. Currie, 'Aliens, Too', p. 118.
18. See also Oppy, 'On Defining Art Historically'.
19. Currie correctly notes that the intentional connections between later and earlier artefacts may very well be of this kind, whereby the intention governing later artefact B connects it to earlier artefact A even though the maker of B is oblivious of A See 'Aliens, Too', p. 117.
20. I earlier ventured such a suggestion in 'Extending Art Historically', pp. 422-423. Compare a similar and later suggestion by Stecker: 'One can say that although Martian "modern" art does not stand in an appropriate relation to previous human art, it does stand in such a relation to previous Martian art....
21. So Martian "modern" art is art in virtue of its relation to previous Martian art, and ultimately to Martian ur-art' (Artworks, p. 108).
22. Berys Gaut, '"Art" as a Cluster Concept', in N. Carroll (ed.), Theories of Art Today (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2000), p. 36.
23. Davies, 'Non-Western Art and Art's Definition', in Theories of Art Today.
24. Stecker, Artworks, p. 108.
25. Davies, 'Non-Western Art and Art's Definition', p. 212.
26. Gregory Currie, 'A Note on Art and Historical Concepts', British Journal of Aesthetics, vol. 40 (2000), pp. 186-190.
27. See Bloom, 'Intention, History, and Artifact Concepts'.