Theme: Art: A Question of Rules or Practice?

Time: 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM, May 30, 2025

Venue: Conference Room 200, Humanities Building, Renmin University of China

Host: Chang Peijie, Associate Professor and Vice Dean, School of Liberal Arts, RUC

Panelists:

Rao Jing, Associate Professor, School of Liberal Arts, RUC

Feng Qing, Associate Professor, School of Philosophy, RUC

Abstract:

The pursuit of art cannot rely on universal rules derived from intellect, but rather requires what Kant termed “judgment” - a capacity that cannot be taught but only gained through practice. This approach shifts focus from seeking art’s universal essence to examining similarities between artistic instances. Employing Wittgenstein’s concept of “family resemblances” as methodology, we must guard against distorted theories of nominal reference while distinguishing between understanding meaning and following rules through language games. While Arthur Danto’s relational perspective on art avoids universal rules derived from induction, both relational contexts and institutional frameworks must be examined through the form of life that establishes and implements them, thereby preventing their degeneration into mere regulations.

About the Speaker:

Sun Bin, PhD in Philosophy, Professor and PhD supervisor at Fudan University’s School of Philosophy. Research expertise includes philosophy of art, critical aesthetics, Deweyan aesthetics, early German Romanticism, and Promethean mythology studies.