A Study On George Dickie’s Institutional Theory Of Art

The Institutional Theory of Art is the core content of George Dickie’s aesthetic thought,which solves the problem of “definition of art”.It,on the one hand,introduces culture into the field of art and brings great explanatory power to modern art,and,on the other hand,causes lots of controversies as well because of its immaturity and internal contradictions.But there is no denying that Dickie’s theory has made a great contribution to the history of analytic aesthetics.George Dickie overturned the theory of aesthetic attitude and rethought the definitions of art in different periods.He was dissatisfied the idea that art could not be defined,and believed the traditional essentialism was too thin.Therefore,he decided to seek the definition of art in the classificatory sense from art’s non-exhibited property,and to define art by the cultural system and social structure where the artwork is located.Dickie’s Institutional Theory of Art has an apparent development process.In its earlier version,the core content is “conferment”,which defined art as an artifact conferred upon those who has a status of candidate by the representatives of the artworld.While the later version,also called art circle theory,abandoned the idea of conferment and explained the basic framework of the art world,which believes that an artifact becomes a work of art because it has a position in the art world.As a representative of the definition of the institutional theory,Dickie’s Institutional Theory of Art has always been in the focus of controversies.The debated topics are mainly centered on three aspects,they are the meaning of the terminology “art”,the dilemma of “conferment” and the status of artists.This continuously on-going argument not only demonstrated the innovation and defect of the institutional theory but provided solutions to many thorny problems in the field of aesthetics.