
Legislation: Work of Art or Artefact?
Abstract
The title of Willem Witteveen’s De wet als kunstwerk is an utter challenge for translators with a philosophical mindset. In English, the choice readily at hand for ‘kunstwerk’ would be ‘work of art’. But a different translation looms large. A ‘kunstwerk’ (in Dutch) also means a technically advanced construction in an already cultivated landscape. Let us call such constructions ‘artefacts’, to distinguish them from ‘works of art’. The latter are wrought by artists, the former by engineers. My question departs from the ambiguity inherent to ‘kunstwerk’ as it hovers between work of art and artefact. From a philosophical point of view, what, with regard to contemporary legislation, remains of the artefact as over and against the work of art?
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/22112596-02002008 | Journal eISSN: 2211-0046
Language: English
Page range: 180 - 190
Published on: Sep 30, 2015
Published by: Ubiquity Press
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Keywords:
© 2015 Bert van Roermund, published by Ubiquity Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.