Abstract

This paper has two aims. First, I seek to show that Kendall Walton's analysis of the participatory character of our imaginative engagement in games of make-believe provides a powerful explanatory framework that can be used to address some of the central problems that still remain unresolved in contemporary accounts of living-presence response, including those put forward by David Freedberg and Alfred Gell. Second, I argue that Walton's focus on the activities of ‘appreciators’ prevents him from considering the possible application of his theory to other kinds of activity, even where this would permit a genuine enrichment or extension of his position. Once we open up the field of enquiry to include the various ceremonial, civic, religious, and other functions that works of art fulfil, the analogy to the participatory character of games of make-believe becomes stronger rather than weaker