Art

Skill of various sorts. Knowledge from the practical point of view. H. W. Fowler distinguishes it from science: “Science knows, art does; a science is a body of connected facts, an art is a set of directions; the facts of science (errors not being such) are the same for all people, circumstances, and occasions; the directions of art vary with the artist and the task.” According to the Oxford English Dictionary: “The distinction as commonly apprehended is that a science is concerned with theoretic truth, and an art with methods for effecting certain results. Sometimes, however, the term science is extended to denote a department of practical work which depends on the knowledge and conscious application of principles; an art, on the other hand, being understood to require merely knowledge of traditional rules and skill acquired by habit.”