ABSTRACT
A puzzle, at once ontological, epistemological, and aesthetic, has, in recent times, attracted some philosophers of art, and its solution seems to lie at the core of that discipline. For how can one talk of matters concerning art without first recognizing, locating, and identifying what it is we are speaking of? To deal with art we must define it; to define it we have first to locate it; to locate it we must at the outset recognize those qualities of experience that signify the presence of the aesthetic. Although we know what we mean, or rather sense what we mean when we talk with one another about art, the parts of the puzzle elude us as soon as we attempt to hold them still long enough to focus our attention on them. Like a kaleidoscope they shift constantly into fantastic patterns, each more wonderful than the last, yet nothing remains constant; nothing is solid; nothing, finally, known.
