One and Three Chairs Questions

Liz Kenny

Sept. 7, 2009

One and Three Chairs

FND 115

1.) Kosuth’s artwork is essentially only one chair. The chairs in Kosuth’s artwork are all different; however, they all interpret one single idea-- the chair. The wooden chair itself is based on the idea from the dictionary definition, while the photograph is taken of the wooden chair that is based on the definition. The three different chairs in the artwork almost create a web that entangle into one concept, causing there to only be one chair total in Kosuth’s One and Three Chairs.

2.) Plato would consider the real chair to be the dictionary definition, while the photograph and wooden chair are just “imitations” of the idea the dictionary describes. Socrates considers God as the “natural author” and true creator of everything; therefore, God could be considered the true creator and author of the dictionary definition. The wooden chair would simply just be considered an imitation of the definition, and the photograph just an “imitation of things as they are, or as they appear.”