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In this article, I defend a qualified version of the so-called ‘resemblance’ theory of depiction: the theory that pictures differ from texts in resembling the objects that they represent. Two related mistakes led philosophers to abandon this theory. First, they mistakenly thought that resemblance is a relation. Second, they commonly confused or amalgamated theories about the sense of pictures and theories about their reference (e.g. Wollheim), or assumed that a theory of depiction is first and foremost a theory of reference (e.g. Goodman)—as it were, a theory of the portrait.

This paper addresses the issue of the role of Quasi-Urteile—Quasi-Propositions—in the arts. Stemming from Ingarden’s Aesthetics, the notion of Quasi-Propositions addresses the idea that artworks employ proposition-like structures even if their reference deviates—to larger or lesser degrees—from that of propositions in non-arts contexts. Here, the Peircean doctrine of Dicisigns—propositions—is introduced, with a much wider range of sign vehicle types able to instantiate propositional content, such as signs involving pictures, diagrams, gestures, etc. Taking a particular Danish controversy—that of a military “cartouche” at a Copenhagen barracks—as an analytical example, the chapter argues that filling-in is constrained by context, genre as well as aspects of the work itself, making it possible to categorize certain filling-ins as wrong, going against the potentialities of the work. The case, simultaneously, makes necessary a softening up of Ingarden’s rigid distinction between fictions and non-fictions.

A work of art can be defined as a section of space (visual, auditory, tactile, etc.) that has been assigned a particular status. It is not our intention to define this status—philosophical aesthetics has been addressing this issue for centuries. Rather, we aim to pinpoint the mechanisms in virtue of which this section of space is isolated and bestowed with the status in question. Such a move requires the action of a certain instance—hence the emphasis we put on the interactive character of the process. We shall pay particular attention to the type of sign called ‘index,’ which plays a pivotal role in this affair.

The artwork of Joseph Beuys was provocative in his time. Although he was very successful on the international art scene and on the art market, the larger public is still bewildered by his Fat Chair or his installations and his performances. The article shows the evolution of his artwork from classical materials (stone, steel) to soft materials (animals, products of animals) and further to his concept of “social sculpture” and to programmatic diagrams (with words and graphics). A special point of interest is the transition towards language (phonic and conceptual), the philosophy of art exposed in his drawings, and diagrams and the relation between art and science in his artwork.