The Problem of the Definition of Art

Abstract

In the article it is proved that the discussion that is nowadays going on between the so called essentialism and anti-essentialism on the question of (a possibility of) an essential definition of art, is corrupted with historical ignorance and misunderstandings. Anti-essentialist criticism of the tradition is in many cases sound, but anti-essentialism itself propagates propositions that are internally contradictory, inconsistent with experience and „sanctioning” relativism in the theory of art and in art itself. Against this background the classical definition of art is reminded (Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas) and the proper solution of the problem of defining art is outlined as well as of the problem of the criterion for evaluating artistic output (that is sometimes mistaken for the former one).