Is aesthetic theory, in the sense of a true definition or set of necessary and sufficient properties of art,
possible? If nothing else does, the history of aesthetics itself should give one enormous pause here. For, in
spite of the many theories, we seem no nearer our goal today than we were in Plato's time. Each age, each
art-movement, each philosophy of art, tries over and over again to establish the stated ideal only to be
succeeded by a new or revised theory, rooted, at least in part, in the repudiation of preceding ones. Even
today, almost everyone interested in aesthetic matters is still deeply wedded to the hope that the correct
theory of art is forthcoming. We need only examine the numerous new books on art in which new definitions
are proffered; or, in our own country especially, the basic textbooks and anthologies to recognize how strong
the priority of a theory of art is.