In aesthetics, the view that a work of art should be taken in isolation, understood entirely in its own terms and without reference to external factors such as its place in a tradition, or the social circumstances in which it is set, or the life or intentions of the artist (see intentional fallacy ). The view is associated with the stress on pure aesthetic form celebrated by the English critics Roger Fry (1866–1934) and Clive Bell (1881–1965). The opposing position is contextualism.
Philosophy dictionary. Academic. 2011.