Kabyl Khalykov Т. K. Zhurgenov Kazakh National Academy of Arts) (Almaty, Kazakhstan) AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF ART: R. ELDRIDGE AND OTHER AUTHORS ABOUT THEORY AND CRITICISM OF ART Abstract The theory and criticism of art in modern thought, philosophy of art and art history has several
controversial opinions about scientific objectivity, which are determined in different ways in the subject
of research. The purpose of the article is to conduct a discourse analysis based on R. Edridge’s book
“An introduction to the Philosophy of Art”, which defines the theory and methodology of art, conflicts and
a combination of critical views, based on a number of controversial issues in the field of philosophy of
contemporary art, aesthetics and art criticism. The tasks of article include: identifying the conditions of
the philosophy of art in accordance with modern trends in world art theories; defining critical thinking and
art criticism; consider the articulation of art – as the essence and value of nature, man in the form of
a certain experience; a comparative study of the views of different authors on the origins of the philosophy
of art; defining the features of the view of art as a natural social experience; understanding the features of
the subject and the relationship between aesthetics and philosophy of art in modern art history. Aesthetic
and semiotic methods of art history, methods of abstract and speculative thinking of philosophy of art are
taken as the methodological base. The research methodology contains the main articles on art theory,
specializing in the mismatch of themes and ideas in different works and art forms with a thematic structure.
In modern theories of visualization, R. Eldridge distinguishes representation in approximately three forms:
phenomenological objective, objective and information theory. The research results in the section
“The situation and tasks of the philosophy of art” discusses who needs art theory and the importance of
emotion in works of art, focused on Kant’s views and Hegel’s criticism of subjectivity in the section “Genius
and the drive for innovation”, “Why originality matters: Adorno on free meaning-making”, “Pluralism and
limitations in interpretation: Abram, Fish and Derrida”, “Art and Society: Contemporary Artistic Practices”,
“Some contemporary practices of art: primitivism, vernacularism, avant-gardism, and constructivism”.
Сultural, philosophical and artistic analysis of R. Eldridge’s critical discussions has prospects for analytical
criticism, which clearly define the well-established definition of art and have common features with the theory
of the humanities.
Keywords: philosophy of art, theory, methods, abstract methods, speculative thinking, art history,
specificity, functions of art, theory of visualization, contemporary art, practice.