A

• Authorial Intent – The meaning an artist, writer, or creator intends to communicate through their work. A central concept in Intentism.

• Artistic Autonomy – The idea that artists should have full control over their work’s interpretation rather than leaving meaning entirely to the audience.

B

• Barthes, Roland – A theorist famous for The Death of the Author, which Intentism challenges by emphasizing the importance of creator intent.

• Bouba and Kiki Effect – A psychological phenomenon where people associate certain sounds with specific shapes, suggesting a natural link between sound and meaning.

• Brushstroke Intentism – A painting technique used by Intentists where visible brushstrokes contain words or symbols that reinforce the intended meaning of the artwork.

C

• Cause vs Meaning – The distinction between why something happens (cause) and what it signifies (meaning), a key issue in interpreting creative works.

• Conceptual Art – A form of art that prioritizes ideas over aesthetics, often discussed in relation to Intentism’s focus on artistic intention.

• Context – The circumstances surrounding the creation of a work, which Intentists argue are crucial for understanding its meaning.

• Creative Trail – The series of choices, revisions, and influences that shape an artist’s final work, providing insight into intent.

D

• Death of the Author – A literary theory by Roland Barthes arguing that the author’s intent is irrelevant; Intentists reject this view.

• Derrida, Jacques – A philosopher known for deconstruction and the idea that meaning is unstable.

• Différance (Derrida) – A concept by Derrida suggesting that meaning is always deferred and shaped by differences between words rather than fixed definitions.

E

• Epistemology – The study of knowledge and how we understand meaning, a core issue in literary and artistic interpretation.

• Extrinsics – External factors (such as historical context or cultural background) that influence the creation and reception of a work.

• External Creative Act – The physical manifestation of an artist’s intent, such as writing a book or painting a canvas.

• External Creative Gesture – A visible action within an artwork that conveys the artist’s intent to the viewer.

• Expressionism – An art movement focused on conveying emotional experience, sometimes linked to Intentism’s focus on intentional communication.

F

• Final Intent – The ultimate meaning the creator wants to communicate through their work, as opposed to unintended interpretations by viewers.

G

• Gadamer, Hans-Georg – A philosopher of hermeneutics whose ideas about interpretation are sometimes discussed in relation to Intentism.

H

• Hermeneutical Circle – The idea that understanding a text requires moving between its parts and the whole, making interpretation a continuous process.

• Hermeneutical Spiral (Vanhoozer) – A refinement of the Hermeneutical Circle suggesting that interpretation improves over time as new insights emerge.

I

• Intentism – An art and philosophical movement that argues meaning is created by the author and should be the primary focus of interpretation.

• Intentionalism – A broader term for theories emphasizing the creator’s intent in meaning-making.

• Interpretation – The process of understanding meaning in a work, which Intentism argues should be guided by the creator’s intent.

• Interpretative Communities (Stanley Fish) – The idea that meaning is shaped by communities with shared interpretative practices rather than fixed in the text itself.

• Internal Creative Act – The mental process in which an artist forms an idea before externalizing it in a work.

• Intrinsics – Elements within a work itself (such as style, structure, and symbolism) that contribute to its meaning.

J

• Juxtaposition – The placement of elements next to each other to create meaning, often influenced by the creator’s intent.

K

• Knowledge of Intent – The belief that understanding an artist’s intent enhances appreciation and interpretation of a work.

L

• Learnt Social Signs vs Innate Social Triggers – The distinction between cultural conventions (learnt) and instinctive human responses (innate) in communication.

• Literary Theory – A field of study that examines how texts should be interpreted, often engaging with debates about authorial intent.

M

• Modernism – An art and literary movement that often emphasized individual expression, sometimes overlapping with Intentism’s ideas.

• Multiple Drafts Theory – The idea that an artist’s intent evolves through different stages, but all stages contribute to the work’s meaning.

N

• Narrative vs Anarrative – The distinction between work that is linear in interpretation (such as a text or music) and those in which the order of expected interpretation is variable.

• New Criticism – A 20th-century literary theory that argued for analyzing texts without considering the author’s intent, which Intentism opposes.

O

• Oeuvre – The complete body of work produced by an artist, often analyzed to understand intent.

• Onomatopoeia – Words that imitate sounds, showing a direct link between sound and meaning.

• Ontology – The study of being, which affects discussions on whether meaning is inherent or constructed.

P

• Palimpsestism – The layering of texts or meanings, where earlier content remains visible beneath new content.

• Parole (Saussure) – The individual use of language in contrast to the broader system of language (langue).

• Performance Expectation (Livingston) – Livingston’s definition of ‘intention.’

• Period Eye – The notion that people interpret art differently depending on historical and cultural context.

• Presence (Derrida) – The belief that meaning is fully present in a text, which Derrida critiques by arguing meaning is always shifting.

• Public and Private – The distinction between shared, societal interpretations of a work and personal, subjective responses.

R

• Realised Intention – When a work successfully manifests the creator’s intended meaning.

• Romanticism – A movement emphasizing personal expression, often contrasted with postmodern skepticism of intent.

S

• Shuttlecocking – The back-and-forth dynamic as a reader looks to the next part of the text and mentally relates it to a previous part.

• Significance vs Meaning – The distinction between what a work means in itself (meaning) and its broader cultural or personal relevance (significance).

• Speech Acts – The idea that language performs actions, such as promising or declaring, influencing Intentist views on expression.

T

• Textile of Quotations (Barthes) – The idea that texts are woven from multiple sources, complicating singular interpretations.

• The Death of the Author – Barthes’ argument that authorial intent should not dictate interpretation.

• The Effective History of the Work – How a work’s meaning evolves over time through various interpretations.

• The Fusion of Horizons – The merging of different historical and cultural perspectives in interpretation.

• The Intentional Fallacy – The argument that an author’s intent cannot be the sole determinant of meaning.

• There is Nothing Outside the Text (Derrida) – Derrida’s idea that meaning is entirely constructed within language, not external reality.

• The Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon – The momentary inability to recall a word, relevant to discussions on memory and meaning.

• The World Behind/Of/In Front of the Text (Ricoeur) – A framework for interpretation considering historical context, textual features, and reader response.

U

• Urauthor (William Irwin) – The idea that the author exists in multiple forms: the real person, the implied author, and the textual presence.

• Universals – Sounds or images with universal associations across cultures.

W

• What is an Author? (Foucault) – An essay questioning whether an author’s identity is central to a text’s meaning.