Study On No?l Carroll’s Idea Of Intentionalism

As a representative figure of analytical philosophy and a famous scholar in the field of aesthetics,No?l Carroll has made great achievement in art philosophy and aesthetics,especially his unique solution to the art definition problem which is basic and core artistic issue.He led the issue of art definition from the focus on the essence of art to the practice of art discrimination and art history,and proposed a new way called “historical narrative” as his art discrimination method.Carroll’s discrimination method is intended to connect controversial works with art history by the mean of narrative to eliminate our strange feeling to them,so that we can confirm their artwork identity.The essence of narrative is interpretation,while what is the basis of interpretation will be the core problem.That is the reason why Carroll tried to research the intention problem,and proposed the modest actual intentionalism as the foundation of art discrimination method.In the process of explaining moderate actual intentionalism,Carroll emphasizes authority and objectivity,while ignoring the emphasis on the pluralism and practicality of his art discrimination method,which leads to the disconnection between intentionalism and art discrimination and the lack of diversity of the art category.A new interpretation from the perspective of the appreciator embraces pluralism better and has the potential to correct Carroll’s intentionalism.