PREVIEW-Episode 16: Danto on Art
Summary: What effect should the avant garde have on our understanding of what art is? We read three essays by modern, first-rate American philosopher Arthur Danto, all published in The Philosophical Disenfranchisement of Art (1986): the title essay, "The Appreciation and Interpretation of Works of Art," and "The End of Art."<br> This is a 33-minute preview of our vintage 2 hr, 13-minute episode which you can buy at <a href="http://partiallyexaminedlife.com/product/ep-16-danto-on-art/" target="_blank">partiallyexaminedlife.com/store</a> or <a href="http://partiallyexaminedlife.com/2010/03/04/ep16-danto-art-citizens/" target="_blank">get for free</a> with PEL Citizenship (see <a href="http://partiallyexaminedlife.com/membership" target="_blank">partiallyexaminedlife.com/membership</a>). You can also purchase the full episode in the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/episode-16-danto-on-art/id867697056" target="_blank">iTunes Store</a>: Search for "Partially Danto" and look under "Albums."<br> I understand you may not have heard of Danto, and you may think modern art is goofy, but you'll definitely enjoy this discussion and the reading anyway. Danto gives a picture of philosophy and art at war throughout history: philosophy says that art can't get at truth and is otherwise useless, yet philosophers like Plato seem afraid of the power of art to corrupt. What's the deal? <br> Also, Danto claims that art is over; the end of art has happened. So suck it, artists. (Actually, artists can keep on doing what they're doing; they're fine, yet art is still over.) Plus, can you stare at a urinal and thereby make it art? What if it's in a museum? Danto loves them crazy ass post-modern artists, and thinks that their work shows that art was not what we thought it was.<br> Plus, Seth talks about the plane crashing into the IRS building near his house, and we respond some listener postings.<br> Danto's book is definitely <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0231132271/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=theparexalif-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399377&creativeASIN=0231132271" target="_blank">worth purchasing.</a> We also refer heavily to Calvin Tomkins's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140043136/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=theparexalif-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399377&creativeASIN=0140043136" target="_blank">The Bride and the Bachelors.</a> For a summary of "The End of Art," you can read <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s5911.html" target="_blank">this excerpt from one of Danto's later books</a>. You could also check out <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674903463/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=theparexalif-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399377&creativeASIN=0674903463" target="_blank">Danto's book The Transfiguration of the Commonplace.</a><br> End song: "This Night Before the End," by <a href="http://marklint.com" target="_blank">Mark Lint and the Simulacra</a>, recorded mostly in 2000 but finished just now. <a href="http://partiallyexaminedlife.com/2010/03/06/partially-naked-self-examination-music-blog-week-10/" target="_blank">Here's more info about the song</a>.<br> Note that after this was posted, <a href="http://partiallyexaminedlife.com/2010/04/13/danto-listened-to-us/" target="_blank">Danto listened to it and liked it</a>.<br>
