Nikitina, N. P. About Descriptive and Evaluative Nature of Philosophy of Art

Abstract: Review: the article shows that the philosophy of art (esthetics) operates ideas with the “double meaning” (or descriptive and evaluative ideas, in other words). This is what esthetics, ethics, theory of law and other “regulatory sciences” have in common. Such “double meaning” sayings speak of what “there is” and what “there should be” at the same time. This is why the idea of truth cannot be applied to most of the conceptions of philosophy of art. The author classified the main forms of descriptive and descriptive-evaluative ideas of esthetics. It is shown that, contrary to Ludwig Wittgenstein’s views, using statements with the double meaning does not oppose to regular, or “factual”, meanings of such statements. The latter are also compatible with “truly evaluative statements” which are quite often used in the philosophy of art (according to Alexander Baumgarten, Gary Graham, Beardsley and others). Key words: philosophy, esthetics, philosophy of art, descriptions, evaluations, descriptive and evaluative statement, classification of descriptive-evaluative sayings with the double meaning, the idea of inconsistency of descriptive and descriptive-evaluative sayings, false idea of the merely “regulatory” function of art, dependence of values and norms on activity.