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On Art and Intention
Author(s) -
FarrellyJackson Steven
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
the heythrop journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.127
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 1468-2265
pISSN - 0018-1196
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2265.00043
Subject(s) - prima facie , action (physics) , object (grammar) , relation (database) , order (exchange) , epistemology , work of art , aesthetics , philosophy , psychology , sociology , computer science , linguistics , economics , physics , finance , quantum mechanics , database
The author discusses a puzzle about the place of intention in art, a puzzle first articulated by Richard Wollheim in his well‐known lecture ‘On Drawing an Object’. The puzzle arises if we try to hold jointly three commonly‐held claims, viz. (1) Art is intentional; (2) The artist, in making a work of art, needs to observe what he has done, in order to know what he has done; (3) A necessary condition of intentional action is that when an agent acts intentionally then he knows what he is (intentionally) doing without observation, or any need for it. Prima facie it would appear that we cannot hold all these claims together. The author spells out the problem, discusses Wollheim’s own solution to it (which he rejects) and seeks to dispel the puzzle by closer attention to intention and action in relation to artistic production.