Origin And Development:A Theoretical Study On George Dickie’s Institutional Theory Of Art

Analytical aesthetics is a primary aesthetic genre in British and American studies in the latter half of the 20th century.George Dickie is a typical analytical aesthetician.The institutional theory of art is not only the kernel of Dickie’s aesthetics,but also the representative achievement of the definition of art in analytical aesthetics.This thesis selects Dickie’s institutional theory of art as the research object by the reason of the institutional theory of art can not only effectively explain the contemporary art practice,but also be a platform to show the validity and limitation of analytical aesthetics.This will provide a useful reference for Chinese aesthetic scholars on how to treat and use analytical aesthetics as an important theoretical resource.Firstly,this thesis review the theoretical background before of the institutional theory of art emerge,and argues that analytical aesthetics provides a set of methodological and theoretical resource reference for Dickie.The methodology of language analysis is the main tool of Dickie’s deconstruction of traditional concepts and construction of institutional theory.The theory of art is undefinable not only provides Dickie with the object of reflection and the starting point of criticism,but also reveals a new way to define art from the perspective of relational characteristic.The theory of artworld directly provides a positive example for Dickie to construct his institutional theory.Then,based on the Dickie’s original texts,this thesis deciphers emphatically the confer,institution and other core concepts,and combined with other scholars’criticism,summarizes how the institutional theory of art developed from construction to reconstruction,to show the basic features and main viewpoints of the early institutional theory with confer as the core and the late institutional theory with artworld as the framework.Finally,this thesis reflects on the circularity and ambiguity that the institutional theory of art has been criticized.This thesis expounds the great contribution of the institutional theory of art to the cultural turn of aesthetic research,and clarifies the limitation of the limit of analytical aesthetics.After transcending the inherent vision of analytical aesthetics and making use of the resources of art sociology to supplement the the institutional theory of art effectively,this thesis advocates the methodological standpoint of pluralism,and further considers and propels the institutional theory from different perspectives,such as gender,aesthetics,culture,body,etc.