Lecture 4: M Twist on the underlying idea of Formal Analysis

Lecture 4: The idea underlying Formal Analysis is not an idea you hear in any other kind of philosophical approach to the arts. Just to remind you: We were talking that art is an imitation of nature. We came up with the idea that if art is an imitation of changeless models then beauty is truth. If art is a cause of effects, that is to say, an imitation of natural causes, then the effect you want to bring about is pleasure, then beauty is pleasure. If art is a set of conventions, then beauty is conventional; socially constructed. Where do you get the conventions from? You get them from successful artists. If that’s what Beauty is, the question is who’s the audience? Lecture delivered on March 14th, 2014.