 Between Beardsley and Hirsch are any number of intermediate positions, in general characterizable as holding that the intentions of the artist provide some direct evidential support for  (2) but  not definitive support. Artists’ intentions have some weight, in other words, but not, as Hirsch in effect has it, infinite weight, weight that entails that the work means what the artist intends it to mean. Other factors may well outweigh that of the artist’s intention in a particular case, and the meaning of the work, or part of the work, not correspond to what the artist intends. Many philosophers, probably the majority, would subscribe to such an intermediate position. The question, however, isn’t which position is most popular, but which has the most to say for it.