Abstract

A cognitive theory of art elaborated from the standpoint of the creative activity. The theory has been exposed against the background of a critical examination of two influential cognitive aesthetic positions; namely, those of Benedetto Croce and Susanne K. Langer. ;The four fundamental points being addressed are: Artistic Import: The theoretical framework to explain the relation between art and the world; to account for the continuity and discontinuity between art and life. As for the continuity between art and life, it is argued that art gives perceptual and imaginative form to the relatively chaotic realm of concrete experience. The sui generis image of life that art presents to us is to be traced to the inherent expressive powers of the artistic medium and the creative principles in terms of which the latter is organized by the artist. This fact is regarded as the primary source of discontinuity between art and life. It follows, then, that the understanding of the way in which the art object is constructed will throw some light on the problem of artistic import. This question is explored in relation to the musical art