What determines the meaning of a work of art? This paper considers three theories of art-critical interpretation: moderate actual intentionalism (the artist’s intention partly determines the work’s meaning), hypothetical intentionalism (the work’s meaning is the best hypothesis of what the artist could have meant), and the value-maximizing theory (interpretations which maximize the work’s value are to be preferred). I argue that moderate actual intentionalism is incoherent, collapsing either into the intentional fallacy or into an extreme form of intentionalism. I argue further that hypothetical intentionalism is premised on a distinction between two orders of intention which cannot be maintained, and, trades on a mischaracterization of the force of hypothetical intentions. I argue for the value-maximizing theory, which I claim provides an elegant interpretive framework while being theoretically untroubled vis-à-vis its competitors.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-512405 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Johansson, Alexander |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Avdelningen för estetik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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