FUNCTIONS AND PHILOSOPHICAL
PERSPECTIVES ON ART
• Aristotle claimed that every particular
substance in the world has an end, or telos in
Greek, which translates into “purpose.”
• Every substance, defined as formed matter,
moves according to a fixed path towards its
aim.
•This telos, according to Aristotle, is intricately
linked with function.
•For a thing to reach its purpose, it also has to
fulfill its function.
FUNCTIONS OF ART
• An inquiry on the function of art is an inquiry
on what art is for.
• Example: What is the Rizal monument for?
• When it comes to function, different art forms
come with distinctive functions. • Some art
forms are more functional than others.
Architecture and Applied Arts
• The value of the art in question lies in the
practical benefits one gains from it
• Obviously made for a specific purpose
Painting and Literature
• One can look at the value of the product of art
in and for itself
DOES IT MEAN THAT PAINTINGS AND
LITERARY WORKS CAN NEVER HAVE
ANY FUNCTION?
• Dr. Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibustirismo
• The novels accrued value and as a
consequence, function.
• They are functional in so far as they are
designed to accomplish some definite end.
PERSONAL FUNCTIONS OF ART
• The personal functions of art are varied and
highly subjective.
• Functions depend on the artist who created the
art.
• An artist may create an art out of self-
expression, entertainment, or therapeutic
purpose.
SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF ART
• Art is considered to have a social function if
and when it addresses a particular collective
interest as opposed to a personal interest.
• Art may convey message of protest,
contestation, or whatever message the artist
intends his work to carry.
SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF ART
• Political art is a very common example of an
art with a social function.
• Art can also depict social conditions such as
photography (pictures of poverty)
• Performance art like plays or satires can also
rouse emotions and rally people toward a
particular end.
PHYSICAL FUNCTION OF ART
• The physical functions of art can be found in
artworks that are crafted in order to serve some
physical purpose.
• Architecture, jewelry-making, interior design
all serves physical functions.
OTHER FUNCTIONS OF ART
• Music was principally used for dance and
religion.
• The ancient world saw music as an instrument
to facilitate worship and invocation to gods. •
Music was essential for synchronicity of
dancers.
• Music guarantees that warriors were
simultaneous.
OTHER FUNCTIONS OF ART
• Today, music has expanded its functions and
coverage.
• There is a lot of music that has no connection
to dance or religion.
• Example: Serenade – People compose hymns
to express feelings and emotions.
• Music is also used as accompaniment to stage
plays and motion pictures
OTHER FUNCTIONS OF ART • Sculptures
have been made by man most particularly for
religion.
• In the Roman Catholic world, the employment
of sculptures for religious purposes has
remained vital, relevant, and symbolic
• Rizal and Bonifacio’s monument and
commemorative coins (Pope Francis)
OTHER FUNCTIONS OF ART
• Architecture may be the most prominent
functional art.
• Unlike other forms of art, buildings take so
much time to erect and destroy.
• One cannot dismiss taking into consideration
the function of a building before construction.
OTHER FUNCTIONS OF ART
• It is also in architecture where one can find
the intimate connection of function and form.
DOES ART ALWAYS HAVE TO BE
FUNCTIONAL?
PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES ON
ART
ART AS AN IMITATION
• In Plato’s The Republic, paints a picture of
artists as imitators and art as mere imitation.
• In his description of the ideal republic, Plato
advises against the inclusion of art as a subject
in the curriculum and the banning of artists in
the Republic.
ART AS AN IMITATION
• In Plato’s metaphysics or view of reality, the
things in this world are only copies of the
original, the eternal, and the true entities that
can only be found in the World of Forms.
• For example, the chair that one sits on is not a
real chair. It is an imperfect copy of the perfect
“chair” in the World of Forms.
ART AS AN IMITATION
•Plato was convinced that artists merely
reinforce the belief in copies and discourage
men to reach for the real entities in the World of
Forms.
ART AS AN IMITATION
• Plato was deeply suspicious of arts and artists
for two reasons:
1. They appeal to the emotion rather to the
rational faculty of men
2. They imitate rather than lead one to reality
ART AS AN IMITATION
• Poetry rouses emotions and feelings and thus,
clouds rationality of people. • Art is just an
imitation of imitation. A painting is just an
imitation of nature, which is also just an
imitation of reality in the World of Forms.
ART AS AN IMITATION
• Art then is to be banished, alongside the
practitioners, so that the attitudes and actions of
the members of the Republic will not be
corrupted by the influence of the arts. • For
Plato, art is dangerous because it provides a
petty replacement for the real entities than can
only be attained through reason.
ART AS A REPRESENTATION
• Aristotle, agreed with Plato that art is a form of
imitation.
• However, Aristotle considered art as an aid to
philosophy in revealing the truth.
• The kind of imitation that art does is not
antithetical to the reaching of fundamental truths
in the world.
ART AS A REPRESENTATION
• Unlike Plato who thought that art is an
imitation of another imitation, Aristotle
conceived of art as representing possible
versions of reality.
• For Aristotle, all kinds of art do not aim to
represent reality as it is, it endeavors to provide
a version of what might be or the myriad
possibilities of reality.
ART AS A REPRESENTATION
•In Aristotelian worldview, art serves two
particular purposes:
• Art allows for the experience of pleasure
(horrible experience can be made an object of
humor)
• Art also has an ability to be instructive and
teach its audience things about life (cognitive)
ART AS A DISINTERESTED JUDGMENT
• Immanuel Kant, in his Critique of Judgment,
considered the judgment of beauty, the
cornerstone of art, as something that can be
universal despite its subjectivity.
• Kant recognized that judgment of beauty is
subjective.
• However, even subjective judgments are based
on some universal criterion for the said
judgment.
ART AS A DISINTERESTED JUDGMENT
HOW AND IN WHAT SENSE CAN A
JUDGMENT OF BEAUTY, WHICH
ORDINARILY IS CONSIDERED TO
BE A SUBJECTIVE FEELING, BE
CONSIDERED OBJECTIVE OR
UNIVERSAL?
HOW ARE THESE TWO STATEMENTS
DIFFERENT?
1. “I like this painting.”
2. “This painting is beautiful.”
• The first is clearly a judgment of taste
(subjective), while the second is an aesthetic
judgment (objective).
• Making an aesthetic judgment requires us to be
disinterested. In other words, we should try to
go beyond our individual tastes and preferences
so that we can appreciate art from a universal
standpoint.
ART AS A COMMUNICATION OF
EMOTION

• According to Leo Tolstoy, art plays a huge

role in communication to its audience’s
emotions that the artist previously experienced.

• In the same that language communicates

information to other people, art

communicates emotions.

ART AS A COMMUNICATION OF
EMOTION

• As a purveyor of man’s innermost feelings and

thoughts, art is given a unique opportunity to
serve as a mechanism for social unity.

• Art is central to man’s existence because it

makes accessible feelings and emotions of
people from the past and present.

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS

AS PRECISELY YET AS THOROUGHLY AS
POSSIBLE.

1. What art form/artwork has changed something

in your life? Why Account for the experience. 2.
Does art always have a function? Why? Support
your response. Provide your own example.

3. If an artwork ceased to have a function, will it

remain an art? Why?

TAKE HOME TASK

• Look around your house and identify a

product of art. In a short bond paper, paste a
picture of that product of art in your household.
Trace the beginning of this item and identify
what functions it has in history (e.g., a painting
of the Last Supper in your dining room or a
spoon).