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Who Decide What Art Means? - Coggle Diagram
Who Decide What Art Means?
Presume Scenario
Silver dots = stars in romantic sky (you) / global warming-inducing pollutants (friend)
Search on internet, find out it's a replica of the artist's first-grade artwork: Red = favorite color, silver dots = fairies
Vibrant red = symbol of love (you) / symbol of war (friend)
You & friend argue over a piece of art
Extended Question
Just how much should the artist's intention affect your interpretation of the painting?
Philosophers & art critics argue ↑ for decades w/out reaching consensus
Artistic interpretation = complex, probably no definitive answer
The Intentional Fallacy
Twofold
The artists no longer alive / never recorded intentions / unavailable to answer questions about their artwork
Even if bounty of relevant information, ← would distract us from work itself's qualities
Believe valuing an artist's intentions = misguided / artistic intention was irrelevant
Analogy
Art = dessert, when taste pudding, chef's intentions don't affect how enjoyable it is, all that matter is if pudding "works"
"Work" for one ≠ "work" for another, diff. interpretations appeal to diff. people
Silver dots could be reasonably interpreted as fairies / stars / pollutants; artist's interpretation = one among many equally acceptable possibilities
Mid-20th century, literary critic W.K. Wimsatt & philosopher Monroe Beardsley
Opposing Opinion (Anti-Intentional-Fallacy)
Example
Walking along a beach → come across marks in the sand being verse of poetry
↑ lose all meaning if these marks weren't the work of human being, but odd coincidence by waves
Artist's intention wasn't just one possible interpretation, but the only possible interpretation
Steven Knapp & Walter Benn Michaels (literary theorists)
An intentional creator = what makes the work subject to understanding at all
Middle Ground
Artist's intentions relevant to their audience = speaker's intentions relevant to the other person in conversation
Example
S.b. hold cigarette & asking for match, respond by handing a lighter, interpret motivation = light cigarette
Contemporary philosopher Noel Carroll
Intention = one piece in larger puzzle
Words used to ask question = important, but intentions behind the question dictate understanding & response