During class today, while we were speaking of transcultural art and whether it exists, I was struck with an idea that stayed with me. Why is this not an absurd conversation? How are we to determine if another culture's art is the same concept of our own when we do not have a concrete idea of what our own actually is? How can this conversation continue without first defining art, at least the western concept thereof. To determine if A is the same as B, should you not first know what A is?
Me: "Hey, Gerald, do you have the same car as I do?"
Gerald: "I don't know, what kind of car do you drive?"
Me: "I don't know."
It seems rather ridiculous, no?
I understand that art is difficult to define. That for most people, it has not been done satisfactorily enough. But for the sake of this debate, this discourse, is it not necessary?
My question then: Are we being premature? Are we having a conversation before we should? Should we define our terms before we continue?
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I don't think engaging Dutton's conversation is premature in any significant sense, for two reasons. First, the theoretical move to incommensurability seems driven by an ideology of "difference," rather than from empirical evidence or a close examination of any one concept of art. And second (and relatedly), as Dutton points out, the ideology of difference is sustainable only to the extent that one doesn't focus on the details! In other words, whatever "our" concept of art happens to be, the vey logic of the situation demands that we should either conclude that "their" concept is related in obvious ways to "ours" or that they don't seem to have one at all (and never that they have one that is entirely different from "ours").
ReplyDeleteThank you.
ReplyDeleteBut I share with you a desire to see through the project of identifying art's essential nature (or letting go with good reason). Maybe you'll do just that in your CS thesis.
ReplyDeleteI have devoted a significant portion of my notes to the topic, though I am unsure as to how much will make it to the prospectus for my thesis.
ReplyDelete