PHILOSOPHY 105 (STOLZE) Notes on Stephen Davies, The Philosophy of Art, chapter 5

When is Interpretation Necessary? “Interpretation is called for when a thing’s meaning or import is not obvious” (p. 110).

What is Interpreted? “The types of items subject to critical interpretation usually are speech or writing, actions, events, and human artifacts. These objects of interpretation are not blank nothings, as it were, but items identified, perhaps only implicitly, as falling under a certain description….The object of interpretation precedes the kind of interpretation that looks to uncover meanings beyond those that are plainly presented. Picking out the object of interpretation and identifying it is a prerequisite for its interpretation” (p. 11).

Theories of Interpretation Actual Intentionalism = a “work’s meaning, both explicit and implicit, is what its author intended” (p. 115). Moderate Actual Intentionalism = “allows that the author’s intention determines the work’s meaning only if that intention is carried through successfully” (p. 115). Hypothetical Intentionalism = a “work’s meaning is determined by the intentions the audience is best justified in attributing to the author (whether or not these are the ones she actually had” (p. 119). Value Maximization = “the point of interpretation [is] concerned with maximizing the work’s artistic value rather than with understanding it as a communication” (p. 122).

Theory-Driven Interpretation Marxist, psychoanalytic, feminist, and critical race theories can serve as interpretative strategies (pp ).

Does Interpretation Change the Work’s Meaning? “The work’s significance is a matter of how we think about it and relate it to values and ideas that lie beyond it, whereas its meaning is something it possesses in virtue of its semantic, symbolic, or other properties. Its significance is what we make of its meaning when we consider the relation between its meaning and matters of interest or value to us” (p. 129). Davies agrees that interpretations can change a work’s significance, but he disagrees that they can change a work’s meaning.

What is Interpretation’s Primary Purpose? Davies argues that “the kind of interpretation that is primary is likely to be that which aims at understanding and appreciating the nature and content of the artwork, both as it is in itself and as it is in relation to the art tradition that it reflects on” (p. 130).