INTERPRETATION, reading Chapter 21 (analysis)

Intentionalism

aesthetic works, AW's can be (for the purposes of this course many different things: a painting, good wine, an elegant coreography, a string quartet, a song, a delicious chicken broth, a beautiful building, etc.)

Intentionalism in aesthetics is the view that AW's are expressions of the actual intentions of their creators. Interpretations of art works assert that a work expresses this or that actual intention, and are true only in the event that the intention in question is expressed in the work.

YET... we can look for expressions of intention outside the art work or use background information to help generate more plausible hypotheses about the artist’s intention.

First, expressions of intention are not in general, to be identified with interpretations of one’s own behavior. Second, neither the artist’s interpretation of the work, nor his or her expressions or reports of his or her intentions automatically constitute the correct interpretation of the work.
Third, the artist’s interpretation of the work may be no better, and is often worse, than those of others.  
Expressions of intention can be inaccurate, insincere, or if issued before the work is completed, discarded rather than realized. 

In addition, there is no reason to suppose that a poem, or more generally, a work of art, is a direct expression of what is going on in the artist’s life.  Intentionalism unduly restricts the range of acceptable interpretations so that the proper aim of interpretation cannot be realized.

The monism/pluralism issue 

Monism: there is proper aim in aesthetics, interpretation should aim at satisfying this criteria.

Relativism: there are many equally good interpretations of AW,

Pluralism: there may be different interpretations of a AW, but that doesn't mean they are equally good. 

If art interpretation has a plurality of aims, it is quite possible that there are correct or true interpretations of works arrived in pursuit of some of these other aims that do not make statements about the artist’s intention. 

note: the pluralist idea is not interpretive as much as META-interpretive. i.e., when you interpret you are concerned with your own interpretation. the pluralist is not saying that all interpretations are equally good. what the pluralist is saying is that given a thing to be interpreted there are different ways to interpret, different versions.

Meaning

is there meaning in AWs? there are 3 views:

1- meaning is either something the thing has, 2- something one brings to the thing, 3- a combination of 1- and 2- 

if you believe 1- you are an objectivist, 
if 2- you are a subjectivist, 
if 3- you are a realist, 

Meaning and Intentionalism

Conventionalist meaning: AWs' meanings are determined by conventions. For example, the meaning of a literary work is determined by linguistic conventions, literary conventions, and perhaps other cultural conventions. Conventions are inter-subjective and consensus based. 

Hypothetical intentionalism 

Hypothetical intentionalism is not solely after what the actual artist actually intended, but with what an audience should or would understand to be intended, given certain background assumptions.

The innovative aspect of this view is that work meaning is to be identified with the hypothetical intention the audience is most justified in finding in the work.

So, for example, Picasso's Guernica has a meaning given backgrounds assumptions about the work itself. This is basically CONTEXT.