Citation

Gibson J. Philosophy Compass 2008; 3(4): 573-589.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1747-9991.2008.00144.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Cognitivism in respect to the arts refers to a constellation of positions that share in common the idea that artworks often bear, in addition to aesthetic value, a significant kind of cognitive value. In this paper I concentrate on three things: (i) the challenge of understanding exactly what one must do if one wishes to defend a cognitivist view of the arts; (ii) common anti-cognitivist arguments; and (iii) promising recent attempts to defend cognitivism.