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Arnheim and Gombrich in Social Scientific Perspective
Author(s) -
Verstegen Ian
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal for the theory of social behaviour
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.615
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1468-5914
pISSN - 0021-8308
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-5914.2004.00236.x
Subject(s) - historicism , objectivity (philosophy) , perspective (graphical) , representation (politics) , epistemology , expression (computer science) , nominalism , philosophy , sociology , art , computer science , political science , law , politics , visual arts , programming language
The two most common names to invoke for a perceptualist aesthetics are Rudolf Arnheim and E. H. Gombrich. But the similaritied and differences between them have never been explicitly drawn. This paper undertakes such an analysis based on the three categories of representation, expression and historical objectivity. Arnheim's less stringent solutions to the problems of representation and expression are applauded but Gombrich's unique attempt to ground both of these categories in a form amenable to non‐historicist approach to history are also praised. Gombrich's anti‐historicism derives from Karl Popper and Arnheim is fleshed out with the theories of Maurice Mandelbaum. The parallel comparison of Popper‐Mandelbaum helps to underscore differences and show an alternative to Gombrich and Popper's nominalism.