This is Art, That is Not Art

The ontological consequences of creativity

Abstract

In this essay I will discuss the implications of the notion of creativity, with regard both to the ontology of art (what kind of entities are artworks?) and to the definition of art (given this kind of entities, which are the specific traits that distinguish artworks?). With regard to the ontology, I will claim that, in accordance to the attribution of creativity in our practices of appreciation, artworks have to be considered as acts, not as things. Given this ontological perspective, in order to define artworks we need some criteria to distinguish between artistic acts and other kinds of acts, and for this purpose I will show that creativity plays, once again, a crucial role. Finally, by way of illustration and summary, I will consider the debate about cinema as art, that during the 20th century has opposed the scholars who argued that films could be artworks and those who denied it, and I will show how these opposing theses both presuppose the belonging of the artwork to the ontological category of act, and the crucial role of creativity in its definition.