Not sure I understand. Are you putting Newton up as a philosopher? Sure. But what he did would not be considered philosophy now. Today's philosophy is an intellectual backwater. I guess I would make a possible exception for political philosophy. — T Clark
I agree in part, but as I mentioned to ↪John
, I think there's still an underlying drive that motivates artists and audiences. We still seem to need or want art, regardless of how the definition changes culturally. It's almost as if that definition doesn't really matter as much as the underlying drive. — Noble Dust
Ok, but even then, an artists perception of one of their works can change. John Baldessari burned all of his early work. — Noble Dust
I would be loathe to psychologize art as a "drive". — John
We can't say exactly what this "something else" is though, and nor should we want to, because that would just be an expression of intellectual greed. — John
You argued that the artist doesn't change in relation to a work; I'm arguing the opposite and giving Baldessari as an example. — Noble Dust
Not "doing so", but wanting to do so. If we were able to we would, but we are not; so why should we want what we can't possibly have? That said, I think that in another way, every authentic work of art is an attempt to "answer" that question, or to speak to the question, at least. Why should we hope for a 'dry' analytical or discursive answer to the question, though. Would that not be to dishonour the question by trivializing it? — John
The piece itself, the form and matter have a say in what happens in making a work of art. — Cavacava
So, I think it's relevant to note that although the spiritual is individually, socially, culturally and historically mediated (and mediating) it is not exhaustively determined by (or determinative of), nor constructed by (or constructive of) individuals, society, culture and history. — John
I think the characters in Hamlet took over the play, and forced its conclusion on Shakespeare, — Cavacava
How does the form and matter have a "say"?
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