A look at Danto's many discussions of the end of art and its meaning. Also examined is Hegel's idea of the end of art and his use of the dialectic to explain it. Both philosophers sought the meaning of art in the object or artwork--more so for Danto, because he thinks the object is a material one that would exclude conceptual artists' thought…

Can moral flaws lessen an artwork's aesthetic value? Answering yes to this question requires both that artworks can be morally flawed and that moral flaws within a work of art can have an aesthetic impact. For present purposes, the author will assume that artworks can be morally flawed by such means as endorsing immoral perspectives, culpably…

The tension among the different models for understanding the relation between the artist and the artwork is brought most explosively to light when legal battles erupt between artists and institutions. This can be found in both the "Tilted Arc" controversy of the 1980s and in a recent dispute involving the Swiss installation artist…

The digital sublime refers to digital-composite photography that presents "the existence of something unpresentable" and that renders a matchless look a sophisticated fabrication, a perfect and clean composition, a maximum color saturation, a multiple-point perspective, and stunning or newfangled content. Abandoning the traditional one-shot mode…

The ultimate aim of artistic exploration is to explore the claim that objects are different from experience and beauty is just a by-product of the exploration. In other words, the truth in the eyes of each person may quite literally not be the same. This indicates that differences in the visual apparatus influence the viewing body's mastery of the…

It is a mainstream view within the ontology of art that there are singular as well as multiple artworks, but it is also a view that is contested. In this article, the author investigates whether the singular/multiple distinction can be sustained and argues for a new way to determine the category to which an artwork belongs. The author stresses…

This paper focuses on how the arts heighten cognitive experiences through the use of natural materials and sites and the engagement with the natural world. The arts expose viewers to new ways of seeing, feeling, and thinking about nature; this can lead to greater awareness of and motivation to act on behalf of nature. The author examines the…

This paper explores critically the nature of art's value in education and argues in favor of both intrinsic and instrumental value. Form and expression, while being out of favor in some contemporary circles, are re-claimed as appropriate features of art. Concepts and forms in art as elsewhere serve to structure impressions and experience and…

Many of the most popular genres of narrative art are designed to elicit negative emotions: emotions that are experienced as painful or involving some degree of pain, which people generally avoid in their daily lives. Traditionally, the question of why people seek out such experiences of painful art has been presented as the paradox of tragedy, and…

There are numerous paintings expressing both the glory and horror of war. These pictures are a powerful medium in peace education. In this article, the author focuses on a symbol of Hiroshima called the Genbaku Dome, a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site. She believes that images of the…

Museums have become a crucible for questions of the role that traditional art and art history should play in contemporary art. Friedrich Nietzsche argued in the nineteenth century that museums can be no more than mausoleums for effete (fine) art. Over the course of the twentieth century, however, curators dispelled such blanket pessimism by…

Several sections in this article begin with a foundational discussion of the connection between art and the general curriculum, including how the effectiveness of that curriculum may then be measured. Continuing with a working definition of "critical thinking", the author demonstrates how Rembrandt's work relates particularly well to the social…

Museum education. Aesthetic education. How are they similar? How do they differ? How do they relate to each other? What are their goals? As museum educators working with classroom and art teachers, they are often asked these questions, and they ask them themselves. "What do they DO?" is probably the most frequently asked question of all,…

The artist and scientist have been depicted as polar opposites since Michelangelo claimed that Leonardo da Vinci was wasting time with foolish inventions while his art suffered. However, the artist taking on the role of the researcher has precedent. In the 1960s, Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), led by Bell Labs' engineer Billy Kluver,…

This paper will examine an unresolved tension inherent in the question of art and argue for the idea of a singular rule as a natural resolution. In so doing, the structure of a singular rule will be fully outlined and its paradoxical constitution will be resolved. The tension I mention above unfolds both as a matter of history and as a product of…