SIGHT AND SENSIBILITY Evaluating Pictures Sight and Sensibility presents the first detailed prehensive theory of evaluating pictures. Dominic Lopes confronts the puzzle of how the value of seeing anything in a picture can exceed that of seeing it face to face - his solution pinpoints how seeing-in is like and unlike ordinary seeing. Moreover, since part of what we see in pictures is emotional expressions, his book also develops a theory of expression especially tailored to pictures. Some evaluations of pictures as opportunities for seeing-in are aesthetic, others are cognitive or moral. Lopes argues that these evaluations interact, for some imply others. He proposes novel conceptions of aesthetic and cognitive evaluation: aesthetic evaluation is distinguished from art evaluation as essentially tied to experience, and some cognitive evaluations assess cognitive capacities, including perceptual ones. Ultimately, Lopes defends images against the widespread criticism that they thwart serious thought, especially moral thought, because they merely replicate ordinary experience. He concludes by pre- senting detailed case studies of the contribution pictures can make to moral reflection. Dominic Mclver Lopes is Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia. This page intentionally left blank Sight and Sensibility Evaluating Pictures DOMINIC MCIVER LOPES CLARENDON PRESS и OXFORD 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland T