La distinción entre arte culto y arte popular, como un caso particular de la distinción entre alta cultura y cultura popular, forma parte de los principios de la teoría estética. En este artículo tratamos de ver cuál es el fundamento de la misma, así como de analizar el trasfondo estético de las críticas al arte popular, para, desde ahí, emprender una defensa del mismo en el ámbito de la teoría del arte, con la intención de situarla en paridad con el (...) arte culto, es decir, como un producto que puede no sólo satisfacer los criterios de la tradición estética, sino que, además, puede enriquecer el concepto tradicional de lo estético y aspirar al mismo valor que el arte consagrado. (shrink)

En este artículo analizo la aproximación “estética” de Malcolm Budd a la naturaleza, que sostiene que el modo correcto de experimentar la naturaleza es “como naturaleza” y no como arte. Estudio su relación con la idea kantiana de belleza libre y trato de mostrar que la belleza libre es un recurso teórico que deriva de la inevitable belleza dependiente. asimismo, basándome en la filosofía de Joseph Margolis, pretendo mostrar que “la naturaleza como naturaleza” es también un artefacto cultural.

En el presente artículo, una vez expuestas las diversas teorías de la risa, se defiende que la risa básica (la que no tiene función social) tiene como elemento necesario, aunque no suficiente, la incongruencia. Asimismo, se postula que el chiste, generado primariamente para hacer reír, se constituye en paradigma hermenéutico de comprensión que proporciona una nueva visión de un estado de cosas y rompe lo que naturalmente cabía esperar del decurso del relato. Aunque haya un entorno de interpretaciones posibles, sólo (...) una es la correcta, y ésa es la que convierte al chiste en lo que es. In this paper, after introducing the different theories of laughter, we defend that basic laughter (that one without a social function) has incongruity as its necessary, though not sufficient, element. Besides, we propose the joke (made primarily to provoke laughter) as a hermeneutic paradigm of understanding that provides a new view of a state of affairs, and breaks with what should be naturally expected from the course of the narrative. Even though there is a series of possible interpretations, only one is the right one, and that is the one that makes the joke a joke. (shrink)

En el presente artículo se relee el artículo de Fr. Buenaventura García de Paredes O P sobre la belleza en santo Tomás, publicado en los números 6 y 7 de Ciencia Tomista, en 1911, a la luz de las investigaciones actuales, ponderando la validez del mismo y tratando de condensar las investigaciones más actuales sobre la cuestión de la belleza en el Aquinate a la altura del siglo XXI. Se presta atención a la percepción de la belleza, a la discusión (...) de su carácter trascendental y a otros aspectos que demuestran la vigencia del pensamiento tomista en el debate contemporáneo.In this paper we read anew the paper published by Buenaventura García de Paredes O P in the issues 6 and 7 of Ciencia Tomista in 1911, on beauty in Aquinas, in the light of current research, acknowledging its validity and taking into account the most contemporary investigations on the question of beauty in Aquinas . We pay special attention to the perception of beauty, the question of its trascendentality and other aspects that show the applicability of the Thomist thought in contemporary debates. (shrink)

En el presente texto trato de mostrar el cambio que ha supuesto para el concepto de belleza poner en paralelo los conceptos de lo bello y lo sublime en el mundo moderno. Me centro de modo especial en la pérdida del potencial revelatorio adjudicado a la belleza por el pensamiento platónico y sus herederos y en la transferencia de esta capacidad al concepto de lo sublime de Kant en adelante, si bien reducida esta capacidad al espacio inmanente. Ese cambio tendrá (...) una influencia radical en otra serie de conceptos básicos del arte, entre ellos, el de genio. (shrink)

Arthur Danto's theory of art contains a theological way of thinking about indiscernible realities that have been the subject of theological dispute for almost two millennia. This long tradition raises new questions for how to understand that theory. Transfiguration – metamorphosis – necessarily involves a change at some point in appearance or in what Danto treats as aesthetic properties inessential to the being of art. Transubstantiation means an ontological change that excludes a priori any perceptible difference. Danto often insists on (...) this very particular aspect when he explains the relationship between artworks and commonplace objects: a non‐art object can look exactly like an artwork. In the Catholic tradition, transubstantiation can occur only if those performing the sacrament act faithfully and in conformity to a tradition. Danto's theory is understand better by reference to transubstantiation than to transfiguration. (shrink)

Along 19th and 20th centuries, art became a sort of new religion, sometimes coexisting peacefully with the institutional one, sometimes trying to provide what the institutional religion was not able to provide any more. Nowadays, art has adopted many of the solutions, topics and theories that theology has handled since it was born. Arthur C. Danto treats art as a reality whose history is over (and so, a escathological reality) and also as a metaxological (metaxy=between) reality dwelling between two realms. (...) Thus, we cannot decide by pure perceptive means whether something is art or not. This consideration has important consequences for art theory. (shrink)

Resumen: En el presente texto trato de mostrar el cambio que ha supuesto para el concepto de belleza poner en paralelo los conceptos de lo bello y lo sublime en el mundo moderno. Me centro de modo especial en la pérdida del potencial revelatorio adjudicado a la belleza por el pensamiento platónico y sus herederos y en la transferencia de esta capacidad al concepto de lo sublime de Kant en adelante, si bien reducida esta capacidad al espacio inmanente. Ese cambio (...) tendrá una influencia radical en otra serie de conceptos básicos del arte, entre ellos, el de genio.: In this paper I try to show the change the concept of beauty has gone through when it has run parallel to the concept of the sublime in the modern world. I focus particularly on the loss of the revelatory potential attributed to the beauty by the Platonic thought and its heirs, and on the transfer of this capacity to the concept of the sublime from Kant onwards, although this capacity will be reduced to the immanent space. This change will have a radical influence on a series of basic concepts of art, among them, that of genius. (shrink)

Currently, art takes on the characteristics of a secular religion: it offers identity, dogmas, canons, experiences of transcendence and provides a certain worldly salvation without demanding any commitment to a creed or a doctrine. I will illustrate this through the example of the performance Marina Abramovic carried out at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in The Artist is Present (2010). I will connect this to the distinction that Agamben has set between the concepts of secularization and desecration: while secularization (...) displaces the forces from one place to another, leaving them intact, desecration involves neutralizing the desecrated, eliminating its aura and putting it back to use. Even though it is commonly believed that contemporary art desecrates realities, I will try to show that actually it secularizes them. Art brings with it the strength and meaning of the religious and keeps the integrity of the auratic space within the artistic realm. This is one of the reasons why transgression in art is such an important topic for theorists: it is a constant effort to redefine the limits between what is considered sacred (and art has a decisive power on that) and what is profane (not sacred anymore or not yet). (shrink)