Thirteenth International Conference on The Arts in Society

Abstract

That a case needs be made for the role of the arts in society may be an instance of “everything old being new again.” The idea that the “aesthetic” is disinterested and involves no practical nor social interests – not anything rooted in the desires of the body – is so deeply embedded in modern western thought that Eagleton’s suggestion that there is an “ideology of the aesthetic” (1990) may strike us as a category mistake. Similarly, the ingrained assumption that the nature and value of art lay in its aesthetic properties, may cause some to reject Belting’s observation that there were images long before there was art (1994). The proposed paper draws from both Eagleton and Belting in showing that both the concept of art and the idea of the aesthetic are the product of historical and social forces. I then turn to an examination of early Greek image that reveals not only that their social function was primary, but also that this society in which they functioned had no theory of art or aesthetics that would deny these images their social power. Ancient Greek images provide us with a clear example of artifact centered social practices.