Philosophy is NOT a medium. To call philosophy a medium is akin to calling a hammer and chisel a sculpture. These are NOT the final product, but tools with which the final product is produced.
Furthermore, philosophy was not created as an art form. It was created as a particular method by which humans can discover some truth. To play with your quote from wikipedia, mythology purports to reveal the truth through stories about gods and heroes. Mysticism purports to reveal the truth by ritual and meditation. Philosophy uses logic and reason. They are different, distinct methods. Plus, some of the early Western philosophers would not take kindly the accusation of their discipline being an art. Plato in particular thought that art was inferior, a useless "copy of a copy," and that it had little, if anything, to offer humanity.
Where does art come in? Art and philosophy both seek to reveal some truth, in my view. However, they do so in different ways. Philosophy uses the pure mental faculties -- logic and reason. Art does not. Art uses symbolism and emotion to reach that truth. They are two separate, distinct disciplines, and while some philosophy can be considered art, that is not to say that philosophy itself IS an art.
Question: What elements distinguish art from every other thing in existence? What makes "art" art?
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1 comment:
I shall endeavor to respond sir...
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