A comprehensive look at the history, ethics, and aesthetics of art from the perspective of the specific philosophical concepts of transcendence, metaphysics, subjectivity, and conditionality. Art and Philosophy first defines art as the communication of ideas, and describes the nature of the occurrence. It presents the communication as intersubjective; that it, it must pass from one subject to another. The subjective message must become objective in order to be communicated. The art object is the subjective message given an objective form. Author Timothy Taubes establishes objective validity in art by analysing the components in aesthetic communication and by determining the relevance of the components in terms of daily life.
Taubes also isolates convention and technique as objective manifestations of the artist's communicative message. Convention and technique are viewed in their transcendent nature, i.e., as timeless structures through which humans express themselves. These are the objective means by which progress is gauged. Humans transcend technique and convention by always adding to their greatest measure.
This volume is contemporary and conversant with the major issues that have affected art of the 20th century, including existentialism, phenomenology, semiotics, and Jungian psychology. It brings into question many of the philosophical concepts that are used to justify art, and views their meaning within the perspective of philosophic development.
121 pages
ISBN 0-87975-865-1