Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


osu1117628400.pdf (4.72 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Comparing artworks

Pratt, Henry John
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1117628400

Abstract Details

2005, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Philosophy.
Judgments about the comparative value of artworks, both within and across categories, are central to art criticism. Some philosophers, however, have thought that not all such comparisons are legitimate. Certain artworks might simply be too different for comparison, or perhaps the very practice of artistic comparison rests upon a mistake. It is crucial, then, to examine and validate current critical practice concerning artistic comparisons. Despite various arguments to the contrary, I argue, there are no compelling reasons to abandon or substantially revise the ways in which artworks are customarily compared. This justification of art-critical practices has a startling implication: the methods by which normative comparisons actually proceed license the comparison of any artworks whatsoever, regardless of category. One competing view, the uniqueness approach, entails that no artworks can ever be rationally compared. Though it is endorsed by several prominent aestheticians, I argue that the uniqueness approach relies on faulty assumptions and does not provide good reason to revise critical methodology. A more plausible and widely received alternative to my view is that some but not all artworks are comparable: only artworks of the same kind, which are valuable for the same reasons, can legitimately be compared. I show that even these restrictions are too severe. Though appealingly moderate, this view has internal conflicts and also rules out many of the very comparisons it is intended to preserve. The only other option is my own, the idea that all artworks are comparable. The legitimacy of artistic comparisons is grounded in what I maintain is the best available theory of artistic evaluation. In practice, critics consider not only the degree to which artworks have artistically valuable properties, but also the relative merits of these properties themselves. We arrive at overall judgments about artistic value by combining the degree to which specific artistic properties are valued and the degree to which those properties are present in each artwork under consideration. The apparatus of artistic evaluation makes this process applicable to all artworks, whatever their artistic category. Comparative judgments among any artworks whatsoever are legitimized, vindicating art criticism as an evaluative practice.
Lee Brown (Advisor)
209 p.
Philosophy
aesthetics; comparability; artistic value; commensurability; comparison of artworks

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Pratt, H. J. (2005). Comparing artworks [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1117628400

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Pratt, Henry. Comparing artworks. 2005. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1117628400.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Pratt, Henry. "Comparing artworks." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2005. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1117628400

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1117628400
1,298
© 2005, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.