Philosophy of Art: Collingwood, Beardsley, Dickie, and Davies

Vocabulary flashcards covering major theories and definitions of art from Collingwood, Beardsley, Dickie, and Davies.

Art Proper (Collingwood)

Art that goes beyond evoking planned emotions, serving instead as a unique process where the artist clarifies and expresses feelings they may not fully understand initially.

Expression (Collingwood)

The unique clarification and articulation of feeling, distinct from common raw emotion that everyone experiences in similar ways.

Role of the Audience (Collingwood)

The task of the audience to interpret an artwork by discovering how to recognize and experience the expressed emotion within themselves.

Aesthetic Definition of Art (Beardsley)

The view that an artwork is something produced with the primary intention of being capable of satisfying an aesthetic interest.

Aesthetic Intention (Beardsley)

The creator's condition of desiring to produce a work capable of satisfying an aesthetic interest while simultaneously believing they are capable of producing it.

Forgery in Art (Beardsley)

A counterfeit work that qualifies as art if produced with aesthetic intention, but fails to qualify as art if created solely to deceive without aesthetic intention.

Artist (Dickie)

A person who participates with understanding in the creation of a work of art and possesses awareness of the idea of art.

Work of Art (Dickie)

An artifact of a kind created specifically to be presented to an artworld public.

Public (Dickie)

A set of persons who are prepared to some degree to understand an object presented to them within an art context.

Artworld (Dickie)

The totality of all artworld systems, such as the literary system, theater system, and painting system.

Artworld System (Dickie)

A framework for the presentation of a work of art by an artist to an artworld public.

The Art Circle (Dickie)

The codependent, circular set of concepts comprising artist, artwork, public, and artworld system, which must all be understood in relation to one another.

Universality of Art (Davies)

The principle that art exists across all cultures and includes functional or religious items, regardless of whether a culture formally labels them as art.

Fine Art (Davies)

A concept mainly originative of Western thought that categorizes purely aesthetic works separately from practical or functional objects.

Cross-Cultural Aesthetic Recognition (Davies)

The capability of people to recognize art from unfamiliar cultures based on noticeable aesthetic properties and achievements without needing complete background cultural knowledge.