Are Rules for Fools?

Are there rules of composition? How can an art form have rules? Are rules only for fools, or can they offer guidance for “wise men”? The answer hinges, as so many disputes do, on an ambiguity. The notion of a “rule” is used sometimes as a norm instructing us how we are to behave, and sometimes as a way of talking about a generalisation. Understanding this distinction can help us understand how both sides of this debate can be correct, but in different senses of the phrase “rules of composition”.