Many years ago, as I was arguing with a friend about subjective and objective truth, we passed by the Berkeley Art Museum, and I gestured to this statue, remarking that different people could interpret this in different ways. My friend replied that it was clearly an anchor from a large ship. I laughed out loud, as I could now see it as an anchor, but I replied that it was no longer an anchor, but a piece of art outside a museum. That exchange has stayed with me. What does it mean about our culture that anchors can be abstract statues, and statues can be recognized as former anchors?
Thought Itself 