conceptualism
Universals as thoughts
Conceptualism is a philosophical position holding that abstract concepts exist in the mind rather than as independent realities.
In art, conceptualism (or conceptual art) prioritizes the idea behind a work over its physical form or aesthetic qualities—the concept is the art.
A conceptualist might present instructions, documentation, or nothing visible at all: The piece was pure conceptualism—just a certificate stating the work existed.
Urinal-as-art provocateur
- dematerializationLoss of physical substance
- documentationWritten proof or instructions
- readymadePrepared in advance
- installationProcess of putting in
performance · minimalism · text art · Yoko Ono · art theory · manifesto · avant-garde · postmodernism
Properties holding across all
- nominalismUniversals exist as labels only
- realismAccepting things as they are
- PlatoGreek philosopher, academy founder
- AristotleGreek founder of formal logic
predication · properties · categories · ontology · particulars · instantiation · abstraction · genus
Arranging into groups
- abstractionDistilling to essential qualities
- cognitionMental knowledge acquisition
- schemaOrganized representational structure
- prototypeFirst functional specimen
exemplar · reasoning · understanding · meaning-making · mental model · perception · thought · classification
Assigned meaning
- jurisprudencePhilosophy governing legal systems
- legal theoryDoctrine explaining law's foundations
- positivismPhilosophy demanding verifiable evidence
- natural lawInherent moral principles
precedent · doctrine · principles · constitutional · statutory · formalism · pragmatism · adjudication
Marcel Duchamp
Urinal-as-art provocateur
- dematerializationLoss of physical substance
- documentationWritten proof or instructions
- readymadePrepared in advance
installation · performance · minimalism · text art · Yoko Ono · art theory · manifesto · avant-garde · postmodernism · ephemeral
universals
Properties holding across all
- nominalismUniversals exist as labels only
- realismAccepting things as they are
- PlatoGreek philosopher, academy founder
Aristotle · predication · properties · categories · ontology · particulars · instantiation · abstraction · genus · species
categorization
Arranging into groups
- abstractionDistilling to essential qualities
- cognitionMental knowledge acquisition
- schemaOrganized representational structure
prototype · exemplar · reasoning · understanding · meaning-making · mental model · perception · thought · classification · generalization
interpretation
Assigned meaning
- jurisprudencePhilosophy governing legal systems
- legal theoryDoctrine explaining law's foundations
- positivismPhilosophy demanding verifiable evidence
natural law · precedent · doctrine · principles · constitutional · statutory · formalism · pragmatism · adjudication · discretion
- art criticismart criticism, review, art critic, critique, analysis
- art movementsPop Art, pop art, Impressionism, impressionism, Surrealism
- philosophy in artsymbolism, romanticism, realism, expressionism, surrealism
- ontologyontology, being, existence, becoming, universals
- Conceptual Artdematerialization, instructions, text art, propositions, Marcel Duchamp
- aestheticsaesthetics, aesthetic, beauty, beautiful, ugly
conceptualismformalism
Privileging structure over substance
materialism · aestheticism · craftsmanship · art for art's sake · decorative art
conceptualize, conceptualization, conceptualized, conceptualizing, conceptualizes, conceptualizations, conceptualist, conceptualists