Vale, Dorian Formal Defence of Post-Interpretive Criticism. https://www.museumofone.art/, 2025. [Journal article (Unpaginated)]
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Text (Formal Defence of Post-Interpretive Criticism By Dorian Vale Philosopher of Aesthetics & Founder of the Post-Interpretive Movement This treatise offers the first formal philosophical defense of Post-Interpretive Criticism (PIC) as a distinct and necessa)
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English abstract
Formal Defence of Post-Interpretive Criticism By Dorian Vale Philosopher of Aesthetics & Founder of the Post-Interpretive Movement This treatise offers the first formal philosophical defense of Post-Interpretive Criticism (PIC) as a distinct and necessary alternative to both traditional interpretation and its later reactionary forms, such as Post-Criticism. Dorian Vale articulates the foundational divergences between PIC and its predecessors, positioning it not as a negation, but as a restorative framework—one that centers restraint, reverence, moral proximity, and the ethics of witnessing. While Post-Criticism often celebrates ambiguity, play, and the dismantling of authorial intent, PIC counters with a sacred custodianship: refusing to exploit the unspeakable, flatten the traumatic, or aestheticize grief. It champions an art criticism that stands beside the work, rather than extracting from it. This defence establishes PIC as a rigorous intellectual position grounded in ontology, ethics, and the philosophy of presence. It is both a doctrine and a declaration—staking its claim in the contemporary critical field as a movement of radical restraint, critical mercy, and aesthetic consequence. Dorian Vale is a chosen pseudonym, not to obscure identity, but to preserve clarity of voice and integrity of message. It creates distance between the writer and the work, allowing the philosophy to stand unclouded by biography. The name exists not to hide, but to honor the seriousness of the task: to speak without spectacle, and to build without needing to be seen. This name is used for all official publications, essays, and theoretical works indexed through DOI-linked repositories including Zenodo, OSF, PhilPapers, and SSRN. Dorian Vale, Post-Interpretive Criticism, PIC doctrine, post-criticism response, contemporary art theory, moral proximity, restraint in criticism, ethical aesthetics, art criticism philosophy, sacred presence, viewer as evidence, ontology of art, witnessing in criticism, custodial criticism, non-extractive theory, aesthetics of mercy, trauma and art writing, art ethics manifesto, contemporary criticism debate, art as presence, art and ontology This entry is connected to a series of original theories and treatises forming the foundation of the Post-Interpretive Criticism movement (Q136308909), authored by Dorian Vale (Q136308916) and published by Museum of One (Q136308879). These include: Stillmark Theory (Q136328254), Hauntmark Theory (Q136328273), Absential Aesthetic Theory (Q136328330), Viewer-as-Evidence Theory (Q136328828), Message-Transfer Theory (Q136329002), Aesthetic Displacement Theory (Q136329014), Theory of Misplacement (Q136329054), and Art as Truth: A Treatise (Q136329071), Aesthetic Recursion Theory (Q136339843)
| Item type: | Journal article (Unpaginated) |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Post-Interpretive Criticism; Stillmark Theory; Message-Transfer Theory; MTT; Misplacement; Displacement; Aesthetic Displacement Theory; Theory of Misplacement; Absential Aesthetics; Witness Aesthetics; Adab for Art; Hauntmark Theory; Spiritual Criticism; Presence-Based Criticism; Custodianship of Art; Art as Ontology; Aesthetic Recursion Theory; Aesthetic Recursion; Viewer as Evidence Theory; Restraint in front of art; Moral proximity; Interpretive silence; Erasure as ethics; Temporal scarcity; Silence as method; Ontology of beauty; Aesthetic mercy; Language as violence; Art encounter ethics; Epistemology of witness; Philosophy of Art; Aesthetics; Art Theory; Contemporary Aesthetics; Comparative Aesthetics; Phenomenology and Art; Ethics in Art Criticism; Interpretation and Meaning; Criticism and Reception Theory; Epistemology of Art; Visual Culture Studies; Dorian Vale; Founder of Post-Interpretive Criticism; Post-Aesthetic Critic; Independent Philosopher of Art; Museum of One; Art Writer and Theorist; Aesthetic Philosopher; Custodian of Witness Aesthetics; Spiritual Aesthetics Movement; The Doctrine of Post-Interpretive Criticism; The Custodian’s Oath; The Canon of Witnesses; Art as Truth; Art as Presence; The Viewer as Evidence; Interpretation vs. Witnessing; Language as Custody; Erasure as Afterlife; Museum of One Manifesto; Alternative art criticism; New art criticism movement; Ethical art theory; Criticism beyond interpretation; Slow looking philosophy; Contemporary sacred aesthetics; Quiet philosophy of art; Radical art restraint; Witness over interpretation; Interpretive Restraint |
| Subjects: | D. Libraries as physical collections. D. Libraries as physical collections. > DG. Private libraries. |
| Depositing user: | Mr Dorian Vale |
| Date deposited: | 06 Oct 2025 08:26 |
| Last modified: | 06 Oct 2025 08:26 |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/10760/47192 |
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