Abstract

Arguing equitably over Continental and American traditions in aesthetics, Gilmour holds that artists are searching for truth as much as scientists and philosophers and that fine art products should be viewed or heard as the nonpropositional disclosure of truth. Against subjectivism, which holds that the artist is simply giving vent to personal feelings that are often idiosyncratic and isolated, and against formalism, which views art as play with figure, ground, form, color and texture, so that it becomes "art about art," Gilmour claims that the artist is really picturing features of the world in an "ontic alphabet" with symbols that can be appropriately decoded by a viewer or listener. His exploration is wide-ranging, informed, and suggestive.