Realism and representation
pictures, models and theories
pp. 11-20
in: Ray Paton, Irene Neilson (eds), Visual representations and interpretations, Berlin, Springer, 1999Abstract
A primary function of certain sorts of models, I shall argue, is that of legitimising qualities. Depiction in art - drawing, painting, sculpture - is I believe also a species of modelling1. What follows here is a preliminary to a discussion of a problem in aesthetics, namely the legitimisation of what we may loosely call "aesthetic qualities". To show that a description of the world is legitimate, that it has a fair chance of not being dismissed as fanciful, or subjectively private but may be respectably true, false or fictional, can be focused on how we may conduct more or less successful forms of representation. The starting point is adjacent to the philosophy of science.