Portraits of Empiricism: Art Histories from an Intellectual Tradition

Portraits of Empiricism reveals how pictures can expose paradoxes at the heart of empiricist philosophy. Although many people believe that knowledge derives primarily from sensory experience, this defining principle brings with it persistent problems: the role of logic in knowledge production, the place of ethics and politics in empirical judgment, and the veil of perception that seems always to stand between observer and world.

Engaging these enduring questions, C. Oliver O’Donnell turns to...