Emily Martin- In class discussions

During the first few days of this class, I thought I clearly knew what art was and described it as just something beautiful and emotional. Now that we have covered the views of so many philosophers and delve into various types of art, I think I have gained a fresh perspective of what art truly is. Of all the views we have studied, I believe those of Collingwood represent my thoughts the best. One of his most important points was that art involves the expression of emotion. Personally, I feel emotion has a strong connection with intent and if intent was absent, the artwork would be basically blank and hallow. Though there might be countless numbers of famous artworks without intent, I feel like without intent, that work of art should not be classified as art but rather an “accident”. Another view from Collingwood I really agree with is that the spectator should feel generally the same emotion as that of the artist, who is trying to convey that emotion through that artwork. Personally, I do not believe the emotions have to be exactly the same due to each individual’s own experiences but I think when spectators view a work, most of them should be able to grasp or understand the general emotion of the artist.