Joe Lau

Discussion questions

Food as art

  • Discuss these definitions of art.
    • A piece of art is something designed to imitate or represent something else.
    • Art is any artifact that is supposed to make people happy.
  • Do you think there is any merit in the significant form theory of art? Even if it is not a correct definition, does it succeed in highlighting any interesting aspect of art?
  • Discuss the case of the painting which is destroyed by the artist before it is seen by other people. Do you think it is a good objection against the institutional theory of art?
  • If the institutional theory of art is correct, what implications do you think it has about the potential of food as major art?
  • Take a look at the required reading by Telfer. What are Telfer's reasons for thinking the art of food is a minor rather than major art form? Do you agree with all her reasons? Why or why not?
  • Do you consider Duchamp's Fountain a work of art? Why or why not? Try to make explicit your criteria about the nature of art. You might also want to read this article beforehand about the background.
  • Do you agree that the only way food can be a famous work of art is to be part of conceptual art?
  • Famous writer Oscar Wilde wrote in the preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray that "all art is quite useless". Do you agree that art cannot serve a practical purpose? What do you think Telfer would say? Someone actually asked Wilde about the remark and he responded. See this webpage: http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/01/art-is-useless-because.html Read it carefully and evaluate his view. Which part of it do you agree with and which part do you object to? What are your reasons?

Objectivity of taste

  • How would you understand "subjective"? What does it mean for you? How would you define it so that if a claim is subjective, then it is not objective?
  • See if you can explain the three reasons for thinking that aesthetic judgments are subjective. Are there other arguments you can think of?
  • Why think that aesthetic judgments are not restricted to judgments about art?
  • Why is it that objectivity is not threatened if people have different experiences when they have different aesthetic judgments?
  • What do you think Hume might say about the those differences in judgments due to context which were discussed in the lecture?
  • Is it possible to argue that cases where judgments are affected by context are cases where people have different experiences?
  • Do you agree that it is "natural" for people to seek a standard of taste? If so, why do you think this is the case? If not, why not?
  • Do you agree with Hume about the conditions for a standard of taste? What are these conditions? Would you add / subtract any conditions?
  • Can you think of some examples of blameless disagreement? How would you show that a disagreement is blameless?