Resemblance and Representation: An Essay in the Philosophy of Pictures

It’s a platitude – which only a philosopher would dream of denying – that whereas words are connected to what they represent merely by arbitrary conventions, pictures are connected to what they represent by resemblance. The most important difference between my portrait and my name, for example, is t...

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מחבר ראשי: Blumson, Ben
פורמט: Online
שפה:אנגלית
יצא לאור: Open Book Publishers 2021
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גישה מקוונת:633714
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author Blumson, Ben
author_browse Blumson, Ben
author_facet Blumson, Ben
author_sort Blumson, Ben
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description It’s a platitude – which only a philosopher would dream of denying – that whereas words are connected to what they represent merely by arbitrary conventions, pictures are connected to what they represent by resemblance. The most important difference between my portrait and my name, for example, is that whereas my portrait and I are connected by my portrait’s resemblance to me, my name and I are connected merely by an arbitrary convention. The first aim of this book is to defend this platitude from the apparently compelling objections raised against it, by analysing depiction in a way which reveals how it is mediated by resemblance. It’s natural to contrast the platitude that depiction is mediated by resemblance, which emphasises the differences between depictive and descriptive representation, with an extremely close analogy between depiction and description, which emphasises the similarities between depictive and descriptive representation. Whereas the platitude emphasises that the connection between my portrait and me is natural in a way the connection between my name and me is not, the analogy emphasises the contingency of the connection between my portrait and me. Nevertheless, the second aim of this book is to defend an extremely close analogy between depiction and description. The strategy of the book is to argue that the apparently compelling objections raised against the platitude that depiction is mediated by resemblance are manifestations of more general problems, which are familiar from the philosophy of language. These problems, it argues, can be resolved by answers analogous to their counterparts in the philosophy of language, without rejecting the platitude. So the combination of the platitude that depiction is mediated by resemblance with a close analogy between depiction and description turns out to be a compelling theory of depiction, which combines the virtues of common sense with the insights of its detractors.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-286852025-01-15T19:49:22Z Resemblance and Representation: An Essay in the Philosophy of Pictures Blumson, Ben pictorial representation intentionality depiction representation resemblance language pictures Axiom Chess Formal language Left- and right-hand traffic Mona Lisa Nominalism Predicate (grammar) Red Square Tacit knowledge thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTN Philosophy: aesthetics It’s a platitude – which only a philosopher would dream of denying – that whereas words are connected to what they represent merely by arbitrary conventions, pictures are connected to what they represent by resemblance. The most important difference between my portrait and my name, for example, is that whereas my portrait and I are connected by my portrait’s resemblance to me, my name and I are connected merely by an arbitrary convention. The first aim of this book is to defend this platitude from the apparently compelling objections raised against it, by analysing depiction in a way which reveals how it is mediated by resemblance. It’s natural to contrast the platitude that depiction is mediated by resemblance, which emphasises the differences between depictive and descriptive representation, with an extremely close analogy between depiction and description, which emphasises the similarities between depictive and descriptive representation. Whereas the platitude emphasises that the connection between my portrait and me is natural in a way the connection between my name and me is not, the analogy emphasises the contingency of the connection between my portrait and me. Nevertheless, the second aim of this book is to defend an extremely close analogy between depiction and description. The strategy of the book is to argue that the apparently compelling objections raised against the platitude that depiction is mediated by resemblance are manifestations of more general problems, which are familiar from the philosophy of language. These problems, it argues, can be resolved by answers analogous to their counterparts in the philosophy of language, without rejecting the platitude. So the combination of the platitude that depiction is mediated by resemblance with a close analogy between depiction and description turns out to be a compelling theory of depiction, which combines the virtues of common sense with the insights of its detractors. 2021-02-10T12:58:18Z 2017-08-20 00:00:00 2020-04-01T13:28:57Z 2014 book 633714 OCN: 895076453 http://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/31256 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/28685 eng open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution 4.0 International Attribution 4.0 International Attribution 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/31256/1/633714.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/31256/1/633714.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/31256/1/633714.pdf Open Book Publishers 10.11647/OBP.0046 10.11647/OBP.0046 b014b543-78bd-4c3b-bc71-b68e2ac855b9 ScholarLed 222 open access
spellingShingle pictorial representation
intentionality
depiction
representation
resemblance
language
pictures
Axiom
Chess
Formal language
Left- and right-hand traffic
Mona Lisa
Nominalism
Predicate (grammar)
Red Square
Tacit knowledge
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTN Philosophy: aesthetics
Blumson, Ben
Resemblance and Representation: An Essay in the Philosophy of Pictures
title Resemblance and Representation: An Essay in the Philosophy of Pictures
title_full Resemblance and Representation: An Essay in the Philosophy of Pictures
title_fullStr Resemblance and Representation: An Essay in the Philosophy of Pictures
title_full_unstemmed Resemblance and Representation: An Essay in the Philosophy of Pictures
title_short Resemblance and Representation: An Essay in the Philosophy of Pictures
title_sort resemblance and representation an essay in the philosophy of pictures
topic pictorial representation
intentionality
depiction
representation
resemblance
language
pictures
Axiom
Chess
Formal language
Left- and right-hand traffic
Mona Lisa
Nominalism
Predicate (grammar)
Red Square
Tacit knowledge
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTN Philosophy: aesthetics
topic_facet pictorial representation
intentionality
depiction
representation
resemblance
language
pictures
Axiom
Chess
Formal language
Left- and right-hand traffic
Mona Lisa
Nominalism
Predicate (grammar)
Red Square
Tacit knowledge
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTN Philosophy: aesthetics
url 633714
work_keys_str_mv AT blumsonben resemblanceandrepresentationanessayinthephilosophyofpictures