On the concept of the work of art in Arthur Danto
Key-words: concept; work of art; mere things.
ABSTRACT
The present dissertation has as main objective to investigate the concept of work of art proposed by Arthur Coleman Danto with the purpose of verifying its capacity to differentiate the mere things of works of art. The research will analyze, in parts, each one of the constituent elements of the concept of work of art presented by Danto and its consequent applications with the objective of differentiating works of art from mere things. As is known, Danto develops his reflections on contemporary art under the impact of the productions of some American pop art artists. This work intends to investigate the conception of work of art proposed by Danto, in view of the successive formulations of his theories and some criticisms that were made to him. Although Danto's philosophical approach to art overcomes the task of definition, I will limit the scope of this research to the definition of his concept of art and to some notions he has presented and which have somehow become well known in the contemporary discussion of difference between "works of art" and "mere real things".