# Medium Specificity **Opening (not a real abstract):** The notion of medium specificity has a long history in the philosophy of art but probably finds its most classic statement in Lessing’s treatise Laocoon. The doctrine of medium specificity, as traditionally construed, holds that art forms are individuated by their physical media which also provide said art forms with norms of excellence that, in turn, are determined by the possibilities and/or limitations of their material constitution. The idea of medium specificity has been especially influential in the history and philosophy of film. Many theorists of the silent film such as Béla Balázs (Balázs 2010; Carroll 2014), Rudolf Arnheim (Arnheim 1933, 1956; Carroll 1988), and Soviet montagists like V.I. Pudovkin (Pudovkin 1958) relied upon the doctrine of medium specificity to establish the artistic credentials of cinema. Subsequently, sound film theorists, such as André Bazin (Bazin 1967) **Authors:** [[Noël Carroll]]