A Syncretistic Theory of Depiction

What is depiction? A new answer is given to this venerable question by providing a syncretistic theory of depiction that tries to combine the merits of the previous theories on the matter while dropping their defects. Thus, not only perceptual, but also both conventional and causal factors contribute in making something a picture of something else.

About the Author

Alberto Voltolini (PhD Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, 1989) is Professor on the Philosophy of the Mind at the University of Turin (Italy) and is a philosopher of language and mind whose works have focused mainly on fiction, intentionality, depiction and Wittgenstein. He has previously held scholarships at the Universities of Geneva (Switzerland) and Sussex (UK) and has been visiting professor at the Universities of California, Riverside, USA, Auckland in New Zealand and the Australian National University, Canberra and Barcelona in Spain. He has also been a member of the Steering Committee of the European Society for Analytic Philosophy (2002-08) and of the Board of the European Society for Philosophy and Psychology (2009-12). His publications include How Ficta Follow Fiction (2006) as well as the "Fiction" entry (with F. Kroon) in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.