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Comment by falcor84 | Hacker News Reader

You're just disagreeing without offering an explanation - why was the original not a good definition?

As I see it, art is in the eye of the beholder. Splotches of color made by Jackson Pollock and those made by my 3 year old don't differ in their intent (I assume both equally want to express themselves), but in the way that we view the work. I for one don't see any issue with treating a beautiful mountain vista as "a work of art", regardless to whether I believe it was intentionally created by a personified god, or by an RNG in the simulator that's rendering this corner of the universe, or anything in between. I see art.

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> You're just disagreeing without offering an explanation - why was the original not a good definition?

because a pretty mountain is not art? sorry that's not obvious?

That's not obvious.

It's obvious to you, because your definition of "art" requires it to be man-made. But you can't use the fact that non-man-made things can't be art to argue that non-man-made things can't be art. It only works on people who already agree.

A table is not a chair because a table is not a chair. A mountain is not art because a mountain is not art. You're free to use words wrong if you want, but that doesn't make them not wrong.

Words aren't that simple; semantics is a real field.

In particular, if art was so easy to define, we probably wouldn't have philosophical studies such as "Definitions of Art" - https://books.google.ie/books?id=6peJnXr4L5gC

And even the chair&table example isn't that straightforward - https://www.coolthings.com/little-oyster-coffee-table/

did you read that book? can you show the passages where it explains that natural beauty existing without human involvement or intention is in any way considered to be "art" ? otherwise this feels like pretty rank contrarianism

The exception proves the rule.

it's obvious to google's AI also, type "is nature art"

> While nature itself is not art, it is a source of artistic inspiration and can be used as a medium or subject in art. Art is typically considered a human creation with intentional aesthetic or expressive purposes, whereas nature exists independently of human creation. [1, 2]

> because your definition of "art" requires it to be man-made.

it's not "my" definition, it's the definition. In the dictionary.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/art

1 : skill acquired by experience, study, or observation "the art of making friends" 2a: a branch of learning: (1): one of the humanities (2)arts plural : liberal arts b archaic : learning, scholarship 3: an occupation requiring knowledge or skill "the art of organ building" 4a: the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects "the art of painting landscapes" also : works so produced "a gallery for modern art" b(1): fine arts (2): one of the fine arts (3) : one of the graphic arts 5aarchaic : a skillful plan b: the quality or state of being artful (see artful sense 2a) 6: decorative or illustrative elements in printed matter

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