Understanding Art:

Abstract

In this bachelor’s thesis, my goal has been to pursue a more complete understanding of art. To do so, I start by introducing the disciplines of Philosophy of Art and Sociology of Art separately, followed by an investigation of how they have historically interacted with each other, guided by the book “Aesthetics and Sociology of Art” by sociologist Janet Wolff. After this first part, I proceed to present my view on the matter. Following the same line of questions which guided me throughout my studies, I begin with how we can identify and understand art around us. This leads me to explain the premise that art is a label, discuss my opinions, and highlight the questions which arise from the validation of an instinct I’d had from my first year at FAMU. By means of personal pragmatic observation, I then argue my opinions related to the phenomenon we call art. This exploration concludes with the defense of the multidisciplinary approaches to questions related to human experience with an emphasis on the relative aspect of art. Though ultimately incapable of forming a definitive answer for the question I pose at the beginning of this thesis, I acknowledge that we all have our own individual experience of art. Through the process and research dedicated to the creation of this academic paper, I have developed the tools to better understand my own experience.