Aesthetics of Architecture<\/em><\/a>, Roger Scruton summarizes RG Collingwood\u2019s distinction between art and craft. It has a surface plausibility: \u201cInitially it seems quite reasonable to distinguish the attitude of the craftsman\u2014who aims at a certain result and does what he can to achieve it\u2014from that of the artist, who knows what he is doing, as it were, only when it is done.\u201d<\/p>\nScruton rightly argues that architecture \u201ccasts doubt on that distinction,\u201d since on Collingwood\u2019s definition architecture must be a craft: \u201cThe utility of a building is not an accidental property; it defines the architect\u2019s endeavour. To maintain this sharp distinction between art and craft is simply to ignore the reality of architecture\u2014not because architecture is a mixture<\/em> of art and craft . . . but because architecture represents an almost indescribable synthesis of the two.\u201d In assessing a building, \u201cit is impossible to understand the element of art and the element of craft independently, and in the light of this difficulty the two concepts seem suddenly to possess a formlessness that their application to the \u2018fine\u2019 arts serves generally to obscure\u201d (6).<\/p>\nCollingwood\u2019s definition also puts pressure in the direction of expressionism: \u201cFor Collingwood \u2018expression\u2019 was the primary aim of art because there could be no craft of expression. . . . expression is not so much a matter of finding the symbol for a subjective feeling, as of coming to know, through the act of expression, just what a feeling is.\u201d Thus, expression can\u2019t be an activity oriented to a pre-set end, and \u201cif art is expression, it cannot<\/em> be craft\u201d (7).<\/p>\nAll this shows that architecture fits ill within Collingwood\u2019s theory of fine arts. It\u2019s too functional to be art, too artsy to be craft. And it suggests too that the aesthetics of expressionism and \u201cart for art\u2019s sake\u201d are already implicit in the distinction between art and craft.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In his Aesthetics of Architecture, Roger Scruton summarizes RG Collingwood\u2019s distinction between art and craft. It has a surface plausibility: \u201cInitially it seems quite reasonable to distinguish the attitude of the craftsman\u2014who aims at a certain result and does what he can to achieve it\u2014from that of the artist, who knows what he is doing, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[895],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture"],"yoast_head":"\n
Art, Craft, Expression<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In his Aesthetics of Architecture, Roger Scruton summarizes RG Collingwood's distinction between art and craft. It has a surface plausibility: \u201cInitially\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/03\/art-craft-expression\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Art, Craft, Expression\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his Aesthetics of Architecture, Roger Scruton summarizes RG Collingwood's distinction between art and craft. It has a surface plausibility: \u201cInitially\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/03\/art-craft-expression\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leithart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-24T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PLeithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/03\/art-craft-expression\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/03\/art-craft-expression\/\",\"name\":\"Art, Craft, Expression\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-24T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-24T00:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\"},\"description\":\"In his Aesthetics of Architecture, Roger Scruton summarizes RG Collingwood's distinction between art and craft. It has a surface plausibility: \u201cInitially\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/03\/art-craft-expression\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/03\/art-craft-expression\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/03\/art-craft-expression\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Art, Craft, Expression\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\",\"name\":\"Leithart\",\"description\":\"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\",\"name\":\"Peter Leithart\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Peter Leithart\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Art, Craft, Expression","description":"In his Aesthetics of Architecture, Roger Scruton summarizes RG Collingwood's distinction between art and craft. It has a surface plausibility: \u201cInitially","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/03\/art-craft-expression\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Art, Craft, Expression","og_description":"In his Aesthetics of Architecture, Roger Scruton summarizes RG Collingwood's distinction between art and craft. It has a surface plausibility: \u201cInitially","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/03\/art-craft-expression\/","og_site_name":"Leithart","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","article_published_time":"2017-03-24T00:00:00+00:00","author":"Peter Leithart","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@PLeithart","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter Leithart","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/03\/art-craft-expression\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/03\/art-craft-expression\/","name":"Art, Craft, Expression","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-03-24T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-24T00:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d"},"description":"In his Aesthetics of Architecture, Roger Scruton summarizes RG Collingwood's distinction between art and craft. It has a surface plausibility: \u201cInitially","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/03\/art-craft-expression\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/03\/art-craft-expression\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/03\/art-craft-expression\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Art, Craft, Expression"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/","name":"Leithart","description":"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d","name":"Peter Leithart","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Peter Leithart"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3021"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18763\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}