Art and Intention: A Philosophical Study

Author:   Paisley Livingston (University of Copenhagen and Lingnan University, Hong Kong)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
ISBN:  

9780199204298


Pages:   270
Publication Date:   01 March 2007
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
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Art and Intention: A Philosophical Study


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Overview

Do the artist's intentions have anything to do with the making and appreciation of works of art? In Art and Intention Paisley Livingston develops a broad and balanced perspective on perennial disputes between intentionalists and anti-intentionalists in philosophical aesthetics and critical theory. He surveys and assesses a wide range of rival assumptions about the nature of intentions and the status of intentionalist psychology. With detailed reference to examples from diverse media, art forms, and traditions, he demonstrates that insights into the multiple functions of intentions have important implications for our understanding of artistic creation and authorship, the ontology of art, conceptions of texts, works, and versions, basic issues pertaining to the nature of fiction and fictional truth, and the theory of art interpretation and appreciation. Livingston argues that neither the inspirationist nor rationalistic conceptions can capture the blending of deliberate and intentional, spontaneous and unintentional processes in the creation of art. Texts, works, and artistic structures and performances cannot be adequately individuated in the absence of a recognition of the relevant makers´ intentions. The distinction between complete and incomplete works receives an action-theoretic analysis that makes possible an elucidation of several different senses of 'fragment' in critical discourse. Livingston develops an account of authorship, contending that the recognition of intentions is in fact crucial to our understanding of diverse forms of collective art-making. An artist's short-term intentions and long-term plans and policies interact in complex ways in the emergence of an artistic oeuvre, and our uptake of such attitudes makes an important difference to our appreciation of the relations between items belonging to a single life-work. The intentionalism Livingston advocates is, however, a partial one, and accomodates a number of important anti-intentionalist contentions. Intentions are fallible, and works of art, like other artefacts, can be put to a bewildering diversity of uses. Yet some important aspects of art's meaning and value are linked to the artist´s aims and activities.

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Author:   Paisley Livingston (University of Copenhagen and Lingnan University, Hong Kong)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 16.00cm , Height: 1.50cm , Length: 24.00cm
Weight:   0.421kg
ISBN:  

9780199204298


ISBN 10:   0199204292
Pages:   270
Publication Date:   01 March 2007
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

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A thoughtful and provoking discussion of art and intention - probably the most seriously engaged book to date written on the endlessly challenging subject of an artist's intentions and how it is possible, if at all, to interpret them. Laura Upperton, Philosophical Writings Journal A rich and ambitious book, one which...produces abundant food for thought for the most discerning philosophical palates. Anna Christina Ribeiro, Mind Journal


A thoughtful and provoking discussion of art and intention - probably the most seriously engaged book to date written on the endlessly challenging subject of an artist's intentions and how it is possible, if at all, to interpret them. Laura Upperton, Philosophical Writings Journal A rich and ambitious book, one which...produces abundant food for thought for the most discerning philosophical palates. Anna Christina Ribeiro, Mind Journal


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