The Appreciation Game: A Monist Ontology of Works of Art

Abstract A pluralist ontology of art states that works of art can belong to distinct ontological categories whereas a monist ontology states that all works of art belong to one ontological category. A monist ontology would be preferable since it is more informative about the nature of art, and may pave the way for a definition of art. Yet, monist conceptions struggle to deal with cultural practices of art appreciation. In the first part of the paper, I will discuss the main monist strategies in the ontology of art, and I will argue that all these strategies find it hard to deal with the relevant cultural practices. Then, I will propose a new monist ontology according to which all works of art are norm‐constituted entities. Finally, I will show that this account deals better than its competitors with the relevant cultural practices.