Art’s historical nature

In this paper, I examine some of the arguments that have been put forward against Levinson’s historical account of art. These arguments focus upon the conceptual impossibility of defending a historical account of art when we take into consideration issues regarding the identification of art in other cultures or worlds. Levinson has tried to make his position clearer defending himself from these criticisms in a way that seems quite persuasive. However, as I argue at the end of this article, Levinson’s attempt cannot successfully grasp a meaning of art that could be identified universally. At the end, his account can only works if we restrict our application of «art» to works that already belong to our own history of art and that, correspondingly, satisfy one or more of the artistic regards that have been relevant in our culture.