A Study Of The Contextualism Turn In The Definition Of Art In The Anglo-American World Since The Twentieth Century

Since the twentieth century,the definition of art has been one of the most complex and important questions in the studies of Anglo-American aesthetics and art theory.The answer to this question is not only the practical necessity to respond to the problem of definition of"anti-art" but also the prerequisite for the discussion and development of art theory.In a sense,"What is art?" naturally became the focus of attention among researchers in Anglo-American aesthetics and art theory in the twentieth century.Based on this question,researchers in different periods have developed different theoretical paradigms.Through the in-depth exploration of the genealogy of art definition theory,we can see that there was a basic paradigm shift from essentialism to contextual ism in art definition theory in the twentieth century.In this regard,although contextualism as a research method has received widespread attention in academic circles,in fact,the content and role of this paradigm in the definition of art is unclear.Most of the studies that have been conducted in this way do not really address the core of the contextualist definition of art.Therefore,this thesis focuses on this theoretical paradigm shift.Through a systematic investigation of it,we aim to present its complete picture and discover its significance and enlightenment for current aesthetics and art theory research.The thesis consists of seven chapters in four parts.First,in order to explore the contextualist turn in the definition of art,it is necessary to reveal the practical challenges and theoretical dilemmas in which this turn occurs.By historical analysis,this thesis finds that the avant-garde art practice born in the twentieth century,on the one hand,broke the art concept of beauty formed under the impetus of modernity and,on the other hand.disintegrated the paradigm of essentialist art definition formed on the basis of the modern art concept.Under such circumstances,the dual interrogation of reality and theory makes the definition of art an urgent problem for the researchers.Subsequently,based on Foucault’s archaeological and genealogical approach,the thesis investigates and describes the logical process of the contextualist turn,starting from the theory spectrum of the definition of art.Under the influence of analytic philosophy,the Anglo-American academy in the second half of the twentieth century presented three different theoretical paradigms in the study of the definition of art:the indefinable theory of art,the linguistic analysis of aesthetic concepts,and the contextualism.Among them,the essentialist definition paradigm was disintegrated under the intervention of anti-essentialist and linguistic-analytic approaches,while contextual ism provided the theoretical resources for the formation of a new definition paradigm.It can be said that the occurrence of the contextualist turn in the definition of art is not an easy linear process in time,but is constituted by two logical steps together:the disintegration of essentialism and the emergence of contextualism.Then,the thesis discusses the contextualist definition of art in different categories,and presents the whole appearance of this theoretical paradigm.In the contextualist definition of art,the context has the fundamental power to define art,so the interpretation of the context and its relationship to art can be seen as the core of this theoretical paradigm.Hereby,context refers to the many non-perceptual factors external to the work of art,such as society,history,style,and tradition,at the time of its creation,and the acquisition of the identity of the artwork lies in the philosophical interpretation based on these contexts.In terms of specific definitions of art,contextualist definitions can be divided into three types,namely institutionalism,historicism,and practicalism,based on different approaches.In institutionalism,researchers have elaborated and constructed the art world,as the context for defining art,from the horizons of philosophy of art and sociology respectively,and explored an intersection of horizons on this basis.In historicism,history is seen as the source of an artwork’s identity.The identity of a work of art is characterized by its particular art historical association with a particular earlier artwork.In practicalism,art is treated as an ontological act of human practice,so the social and historical nature of practice provides the resources for defining art in its social and historical context.In essence,in the contextualist definition of art,regardless of the ontological identification of art in any sense,the contexts in which they are embedded can ultimately be reduced to two broad categories,namely social and historical contexts.According to this understanding,The thesis then takes the artistic thinking in continental philosophy and the new aesthetic theory since the 21st century as the synchronic and diachronic reflection object.In comparison,it also explores the positive significance of contextualism as one of the twentieth century postmodern philosophical trends in defining art,and analyses its own disadvantages such as ambiguity,impracticality and borderlines.At the same time,facing the contemporary question of the development of Chinese art theory,the thesis points out that contextualism can not only provide a thinking perspective and resources for the construction of the definition of art in contemporary China,but also provide theoretical support for promoting the development of Chinese contemporary art practice.The thesis concludes by suggesting that contextualism offers a new and different way of thinking about defining art in the context of the constant iteration of contemporary art practices.However,at present,neither contextualism nor aestheticism can perfectly answer the problem of the definition of art.Thus,it is clear that the definition of art remains an unfinished business.In this context,instead of endlessly thinking about empty concepts,it is better to return to the appreciation of the value of art itself and to recover the light of art that has long been obscured by speculative games.