Art Criticism as Practical Reasoning

British Journal of Aesthetics 57 (3):299-317 (2017)
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Abstract

Most recent discussions of reasons in art criticism focus on reasons that justify beliefs about the value of artworks. Reviving a long-neglected suggestion from Paul Ziff, I argue that we should focus instead on art-critical reasons that justify actions—namely, particular ways of engaging with artworks. I argue that a focus on practical rather than theoretical reasons yields an understanding of criticism that better fits with our intuitions about the value of reading art criticism, and which makes room for a nuanced distinction between criticism that aims at universality and criticism that is resolutely personal.

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Anthony Cross
Texas State University

Citations of this work

The authority of pleasure.Keren Gorodeisky - 2021 - Noûs 55 (1):199-220.
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Aesthetic Reasons and the Demands They (Do Not) Make.Daniel Whiting - 2021 - Philosophical Quarterly 71 (2):407-427.
Aesthetic knowledge.Keren Gorodeisky & Eric Marcus - 2022 - Philosophical Studies 179 (8):2507-2535.

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References found in this work

Aesthetic and nonaesthetic.Frank Sibley - 1965 - Philosophical Review 74 (2):135-159.
Art, narrative, and moral understanding.Noël Carroll - 1998 - In Jerrold Levinson (ed.), Aesthetics and Ethics: Essays at the Intersection. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 126--60.
Critical communication.Arnold Isenberg - 1949 - Philosophical Review 58 (4):330-344.
Artistic crimes: The problem of forgery in the arts.Denis Dutton - 1979 - British Journal of Aesthetics 19 (4):302-314.

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