Practice question · Multiple choice
A student's abstract canvas is read by three visitors as a landscape, which she did not intend. Why is "that is not what I meant" an unsatisfactory response, even if it is true?
Hints
- Ask what caused three separate people to arrive at the same reading.
- The statement may be true and still leave the situation unchanged.
Show the answer
C. The work prompted the reading, so the artist must identify the cause and decide
Why
Three people converging means something in the picture is doing it — a horizon-like division, a warm-over-cool arrangement — and the statement of intention does not remove it. Locating the cause turns the situation into a decision. The artist does know her intentions; they simply are not the only thing at work.
Practise Meanings, and Who Decides Them
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More questions on Meanings, and Who Decides Them
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