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Author Blumson, Ben, author.

Title Resemblance and representation : an essay in the philosophy of pictures / Ben Blumson.

Publication Info. Cambridge, UK : OpenBook Publishers, 2014.

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Location Call No. OPAC Message Status
 Axe JSTOR Open Ebooks  Electronic Book    ---  Available
Description 1 online resource (viii, 209 pages) : illustrations
text txt rdacontent
computer c rdamedia
online resource cr rdacarrier
data file
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-206) and index.
Summary "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."--Publisher's website
Contents List of illustrations -- Acknowledgements -- Note on the text -- 1. Introduction -- 1.1 An ostensive definition of depiction -- 1.2 The analysis of resemblance as sharing properties -- 1.3 An intuitive taxonomy of representation -- 1.4 The methodology of analysis -- 1.5 Conclusion -- 2. Defining Depiction -- 2.1 Grice's analysis of speaker meaning -- 2.2 The intended effect in Grice's analysis -- 2.3 The salient feature in Grice's analysis -- 2.4 Abell's analysis of depiction -- 2.5 Conclusion -- 3. Depiction and Intention -- 3.1 Objections to the necessity of intention -- 3.2 Objections to the necessity of an audience -- 3.3 Objections to the sufficiency of intention -- 3.4 Objections to the necessity of reasons -- 3.5 Conclusion -- 4. Depiction and Convention -- 4.1 Goodman's definition of symbol systems -- 4.2 Formal definition of languages -- 4.3 Lewis' analysis of convention -- 4.4 Analysis of depictive symbol systems -- 4.5 Conclusion -- 5. Symbol Systems -- 5.1 Analysis of conventional language -- 5.2 Analysis of symbol systems in use -- 5.3 Depiction outside of symbol systems -- 5.4 Meaning outside conventional language -- 5.5 Conclusion -- 6. Depiction and Composition -- 6.1 Theories of representation -- 6.2 The finite axiomatization constraint -- 6.3 The mirror constraint -- 6.4 The structural constraint -- 6.5 Conclusion -- 7. Interpreting Images -- 7.1 Compositionality and language understanding -- 7.2 Compositionality and understanding pictures -- 7.3 Understanding pictures without compositionality -- 7.4 Understanding language without compositionality -- 7.5 Conclusion -- 8. Intentionality and Inexistence -- 8.1 Analysing depiction in intentional terms -- 8.2 Denying depiction is relational -- 8.3 Denying relations are between existents -- 8.4 Depiction of states of affairs -- 8.5 Conclusion -- 9. Perspective and Possibility -- 9.1 The possible worlds analysis of content -- 9.2 Centred properties and possible worlds -- 9.3 The two-dimensional analysis of content -- 9.4 Structured intensions and impossible worlds -- 9.5 Conclusion -- 10. Pictures and Properties -- 10.1 Predicate nominalism -- 10.2 Class nominalism -- 10.3 Scientific realism -- 10.4 Inegalitarian nominalism -- 10.5 Conclusion -- References -- Index.
Note Viewed on 2020-03-31.
Subject Representation (Philosophy)
Image (Philosophy)
Art -- Philosophy.
Représentation (Philosophie)
Image (Philosophie)
Art -- Philosophie.
Humanities.
Philosophy.
Philosophy: aesthetics.
PHILOSOPHY -- Aesthetics.
Art -- Philosophy
Image (Philosophy)
Representation (Philosophy)
Other Form: Print version: 9781783740734
Print version: 9781783740727
ISBN 1783740744
9781783740758 (epub)
1783740752
9781783740765 (mobi)
1783740760
1783740728
9781783740727
1783740736
9781783740734
9781783740741 (electronic bk.)
Standard No. AU@ 000054464264
AU@ 000058146193
NZ1 15967946
UKMGB 016980902

 
    
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