Investigation of high and low art from the perspective of pragmatism philosophy

Abstract

Categorization and groupings of concepts have always existed in history, and this has resulted in the emergence of binaries. In most categories of binaries, the first expressed case is more positive and more valuable than the second concept, e.g., day versus night. In this paper, high art versus low art and the philosophy of rationalism within the philosophy of pragmatism are studied. Society in general is composed of two elements: a majority and a minority. The minority group is considered educated and privileged. Fine art as well as rationalist approaches are deemed to belong to them. In contrast, the majority or the public does not benefit from such knowledge. Specifically, popular art and philosophy that is empiricist or pragmatic belongs to them. However, the question is whether this classification is based on social classes or humankind, irrespective of one's place in society. This is the question that this article attempts to answer.