What, Really, Is A Monument?
Monuments play a different cultural role than do other kinds of artworks: To let a monument stand, or to take it down, is to take a political stand on its subject matter, says blogger Alva Noë.
Alva Noë is a philosopher at the University of California, Berkeley, where he writes and teaches about perception, consciousness and art. You can find him on Facebook and on Twitter: @alvanoe
We value works of art, whether by Leonardo da Vinci, Mark Rothko, or Rosie Lee Tomkins, for both personal and historical reasons.
Artworks are the products of an individual person's labor and the expression of this person's personality and style. Certain art, also, appeals to us, individually.
Artworks also stand as historical
