Can This Be Art?

While philosophers have tried to define art by necessary and sufficient features, this effort has failed. Art is a socially constructed, open concept that eludes formal definition. While art cannot be tightly defined, we can loosely define art by listing possible characteristics of works of art—recognizing that this list must remain an open one. We may not be able define art, but philosophers and psychologists together have revealed the difference between observing something with or without an aesthetic attitude. While any artifact may be used as a work of art, we respond differently to that artifact when we believe it is was created intentionally as a work of art rather than a non-art artifact. We adopt an aesthetic attitude, paying attention to the surface form and the expressive properties of the object. This conclusion is consistent with Kant’s idea of the aesthetic attitude being a form of disinterested contemplation.