An Introduction to the Philosophy of Art

I am suggesting that the concept“firm design”be matched with the interest of

the picture. You may follow my prompting or not; and if you do follow my

prompting you may agree or disagree.^37

When things go well with such a demonstration on the part of the critic,
then we do agree and so see for ourselves just what this arrangement of
elements meanshere.
In exploring a work critically, either altogether on our own or also
under the guidance of critical-elucidatory writing about it, imagination is
specially involved in perception and in understanding. When we analyze a
work, we frequently imagine variations of it, asking ourselves such ques-
tions as:“What if this word were replaced by a close synonym?,”“What if
this figure were moved slightly up and to the left?,”“What if the arrival
at the tonic were delayed here by a suspension?,”or“What if a wide angle
shot were used here instead of a closeup?”By imagining these things, we
explore contrastively what has been done in the work, in order that it has
the expressive and absorptive configuration that it has. Contrasts and
comparisons with other works function similarly. We explore the
elements-in-configuration throughimaginative contrast in order to see
or hear their expressive and affective significance in the context of the
work. This imaginative exploration aimed at seeing or hearing for oneself
is quite different from testing the hypothesis that this painting is serene
becauseit is predominantly blue. We rely on no generalizations of the
form“All predominantly blue paintings are serene.”Instead we look to
see for ourselves what is going on – what is represented, what is
expressed, and what affect is invited in us–in this particular work. As
Roger Scruton puts it in describing the role of imagination in critical
understanding,

In aesthetics you have to see for yourself precisely because what you have

to“see”is not a property: your knowledge that an aesthetic feature is“in”the

object is given by thesamecriteria that show that you“see”it. To see the

sadness in the music and to know that the music is sad are one and the same

thing. To agree in the judgment that the music is sad is not to agree in a

belief, but in something more like a response or an experience.^38

(^37) Baxandall,Patterns of Intention, pp. 8, 9.
(^38) Scruton,Art and Imagination, p. 554.
Understanding art 159