Languages of Art: An Approach to a Theory of Symbols is a book by American philosopher Nelson Goodman. It is considered one of the most important works of 20th century aesthetics in the Analytic tradition. Originally published in 1968, it was revised in 1976. Goodman continued to refine and update these theories in essay form for the rest of his career.
Languages of Art ostensibly concerns only the philosophy of art, but in the book's introductio...
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Languages of Art: An Approach to a Theory of Symbols is a book by American philosopher Nelson Goodman. It is considered one of the most important works of 20th century aesthetics in the Analytic tradition. Originally published in 1968, it was revised in 1976. Goodman continued to refine and update these theories in essay form for the rest of his career.
Languages of Art ostensibly concerns only the philosophy of art, but in the book's introduction, Goodman says that by the "languages" in the book's title, he means "symbol systems" in general. Central to the book's thesis is the concept of reference .
Goodman tries to demonstrate the absurdity of the common assumption that something must resemble another thing to represent it. He compares an object with itself: "An object resembles itself to a maximum degree but rarely represents itself [...] while a painting may represent the Duke of Wellington, the Duke of Wellington doesn't represent the painting." (4) For one thing to represent...
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