Seminar 1

Reading: Weitz, Morris. 1956. The Role of Theory in Aesthetics. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 15 (1): 27-35.

  1. What is the central question that Weitz addresses?
  2. What is the main claim that Weitz wants to argue for?
  3. State the theories of art that Weitz identifies.
  4. What does Weitz mean when he criticises existing theories of art by claiming ‘that they are circular, incomplete, untestable, pseudo-factual, disguised proposals to change the meaning of concepts’?
  5. What sort of concept does he think ‘art’ is?
  6. What does he mean by saying the concept of ‘art’ is ‘open’?
  7. Explain Weitz’s claim that there are two different uses of ‘art’.
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