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    Carmelics

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    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Lessing's argument presupposes a strict homology between a medium's physical properties and its representational capacities, which Goodman's Languages of Art shows is not warranted.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Goodman's argument focuses on symbol systems' conventionality, not whether physical properties constrain what can be represented in a given medium.
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    • 2.Even if representation is conventional, the physical properties of media (light, pigment, time) still impose real constraints on what representations are feasible or natural.
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    • 3.Lessing's claim may not require strict homology—only that physical properties create meaningful, non-arbitrary correlations with representational tendencies.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Goodman demonstrates that representational systems are conventional: the same physical medium (paint) can denote different things based on cultural/contextual rules.
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    • 2.Lessing ties narrative sequentiality to temporal media (literature) and spatial simultaneity to visual media, but digital art violates these correlations.
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    • 3.A photograph's causal relation to its subject differs physically from painting, yet both can represent identically—showing medium properties don't determine representational capacity.
      ?

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