# What Is Art? — Chapters explained

> Chapter companions for What Is Art? by Leo Tolstoy.

- [The Author’s Preface](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/the-author-s-preface.md): Tolstoy explains the history of his book 'What Is Art?', detailing how it was mutilated by Russian censors after he agreed to compromises to get it published. He describes the alterations made by Professor Grote and the 
- [What Is Art?](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/what-is-art.md): Tolstoy introduces the central problem of defining art, critiquing existing aesthetic theories that rely on pleasure or beauty. He argues that true art must be distinguished from counterfeit art and that the prevailing c
- [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/i.md): Tolstoy opens by highlighting the confusion and contradiction surrounding the definition of art, noting that artists of different schools mutually exclude one another. He describes the enormous labor, expense, and human 
- [Chapter II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/ii.md): Tolstoy questions the common understanding of art as the production of beauty, showing that the concept of beauty is vague and disputed among philosophers. He argues that the sacrifices demanded by art in society must be
- [Chapter III: Aesthetic Theories of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/iii.md): Tolstoy surveys the major aesthetic theories from the 18th and 19th centuries, focusing on English, French, Italian, Dutch, and German philosophers. He examines definitions of beauty and art by Hutcheson, Home, Burke, Di

> 23 more chapter companions — [open a free preview](https://www.betterreads.dev/reader?bookId=what_is_art_se_750kb&preview=1) to unlock the rest.

- [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/iv.md)
- [Chapter V: The Infection Theory of Art](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/v.md)
- [Chapter VI: The Religious Basis of Art and Its Decline](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/vi.md)
- [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/vii.md)
- [Chapter VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/viii.md)
- [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/ix.md)
- [Chapter X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/x.md)
- [The Substitution of Counterfeits for Art](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xi.md)
- [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xii.md)
- [Chapter XIII: Wagner and the Counterfeit of Art](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xiii.md)
- [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xiv.md)
- [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xv.md)
- [Chapter XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xvi.md)
- [XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xvii.md)
- [XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xviii.md)
- [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xix.md)
- [XX: The Conclusion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xx-the-conclusion.md)
- [Appendices](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/appendices.md)
- [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/i.md)
- [Chapter II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/ii.md)
- [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/iii.md)
- [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/iv.md)
- [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/endnotes.md)

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters