1. THEORY OF
KNOWLEDGE
THE ARTS
“Art is what you can get away with.” Andy
Warhol

2. Objectives
 To appreciate possible definitions and
descriptions of the central characteristics of
the arts
 To understand some of the changes in artistic
expression through human history

3. Why Art?
 “The supreme goal of man  “I must study politics and
is to fulfill himself as a war so that my sons may
creative, unique individual have liberty to study
according to his own mathematics and
unique potentialities and philosophy. My sons ought
within the limits of reality.” to study mathematics,
Carl Jung philosophy, geography,
naval architecture,
navigation, commerce and
agriculture in order to give
their children a right to
study painting, poetry,
music, architecture,
statuary, tapestry and
porcelain.”
John Adams

4. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Where does art fit in this?
What’s more important—the top of the pyramid or the bottom?

5. What is art?
“El arte es una

mentira que nos
acerca a la
verdad.”
Pablo Picasso

6. What is art?
“Art is a lie that

brings us nearer
to the truth.”
Pablo Picasso

7. What is art?
 How do we want to answer this question
 Empirical issue: What sort of things are called
art? How and in what context do people use the
word art? This question is answered by a
description of the world
 Judgment issue: What sort of things should we
call art? This answer requires a judgment and the
answer will vary depending of how we think the
world should be.
 How is the difficulty in judging what is art, or the
quality of a work of art, different from judging a
theory in science?

8. Why do art?
First things first…
If something is a work of art then it should
fulfill the purpose of art—but what is that
purpose?
As a group, and before going on,
brainstorm a list of reasons that art is
created—both in the present and in the past

9. What is the purpose of art?
 Art is a way of expressing emotion
 Think for a moment of a time when art evoked
some sort of emotional response from you
(anger, awe, fear, etc...) Now think of a time
that you experienced a different sort of
emotion as a result of art. Briefly describe
these experiences.
 If the purpose of art is to evoke emotion, then
what are the best forms of art?
 Is the emotional theory of the purpose of art a
complete answer to the question, what is the

10. What is the purpose of art?
 Art’s purpose is to imitate nature or the
world
 The mimetic theory of art
 What form of art creates the most realistic
versions of reality? Does this art always tell
the truth?
 Do artists strive to capture reality?
 What role does nature play in abstract art?
 Is the mimetic theory for the purpose of art a
complete answer to the question?

11. Photography and Reality
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5254838.stm

12. Art and Moral Awareness
“We have never lived
 “There is no such 
enough. Our experience
thing as a moral or is, without fiction, to
confined and too parochial.
an immoral book. Literature extends it,
Books are well making us reflect and feel
about what might
written or badly otherwise be too distant for
feeling. The importance of
written. That is all.” this for both morals and
politics cannot be
Oscar Wilde underestimated.”
Martha Nussbaum

13. What is the purpose of art?
 The purpose of art is to teach us what is
right.
 When have you experienced art that has
affected your moral outlook? Why did it do
so?
 Art can make statements in a powerful way. Is
art a language?
 Art which broadens our experience must also
inform our understanding of how we should
live. Do you agree with that statement?