Historical Theories of Art and Family Resemblance Concepts

This chapter explores historical theories of art, focusing on Gerald Levinson's perspective that an artwork must have relations to past works of art. It also introduces the concept of family resemblance concepts through the example of categorizing and defining games. The chapter argues that there is no single defining feature of art, but rather a network of overlapping similarities, and discusses the conditions that a thing must meet to be considered artwork.