The Scope and Limits of Mimesis Therefore, it is clear that the grading of mimesis and the demonstrating of its aspects does not go far enough. Mimesis always relates to reality; we must, therefore, define what we mean by reality. It should by now be clear that the field of reference for mimesis as I understand the category is our reality, both natural and social, as made up of concrete objects, events, processes (internal as well as external, when the former are described or depicted), and situations, appearing in various segmentations, in certain inward and outward relationships, in simple or complex structures.I am aware of the epistemological and ontological pitfalls of such an oversimplified model. The problems with which Gombrich wrestled in his book concern not only the process of perceiving the world but also an overall analysis of the development of human knowledge. When he says that we interpret as we perceive, he is touching on an issue that goes beyond the limits of psychology.Every act of knowing is governed by at least three things: the object on which it fastens; the subject in the sense of the generic capacities for apprehending the world; and the current state of knowledge. There is a fourth point—individual modification—which, crucial though it is to an account of the creative process and aesthetic response, can be passed over here. Those three basic conditions are enough to reinforce my earlier argument that mimesis is not the passive copying of reality in the manner of a mirror. In reproduction no less than in semimimetic works, imitation is accompanied by a certain creative element. However, Gombrich, as well as other writers like Francastel and Strzemiński, have drawn far more extreme conclusions from such subject-object conditioning concretized in an historical context, since they question the meaningfulness of any single concept of reality on account of its being modulated by the degree of visual awareness or, in broader terms, being a projection of a sum of human knowledge. The trouble with this case is that it absolutizes the active element in human perception.
The Scope and Limits of Mimesis <br>Therefore, it is clear that the grading of mimesis and the demonstrating of its aspects does not go far enough. Mimesis always relates to reality; we must, therefore, define what we mean by reality. It should by now be clear that the field of reference for mimesis as I understand the category is our reality, both natural and social, as made up of concrete objects, events, processes (internal as well as external, when the former are described or depicted), and situations, appearing in various segmentations, in certain inward and outward relationships, in simple or complex structures.<br>I am aware of the epistemological and ontological pitfalls of such an oversimplified model. The problems with which Gombrich wrestled in his book concern not only the process of perceiving the world but also an overall analysis of the development of human knowledge. When he says that we interpret as we perceive, he is touching on an issue that goes beyond the limits of psychology.<br>Every act of knowing is governed by at least three things: the object on which it fastens; the subject in the sense of the generic capacities for apprehending the world; and the current state of knowledge. There is a fourth point—individual modification—which, crucial though it is to an account of the creative process and aesthetic response, can be passed over here. Those three basic conditions are enough to reinforce my earlier argument that mimesis is not the passive copying of reality in the manner of a mirror. In reproduction no less than in semimimetic works, imitation is accompanied by a certain creative element. However, Gombrich, as well as other writers like Francastel and Strzemiński, have drawn far more extreme conclusions from such subject-object conditioning concretized in an historical context, since they question the meaningfulness of any single concept of reality on account of its being modulated by the degree of visual awareness or, in broader terms, being a projection of a sum of human knowledge. The trouble with this case is that it absolutizes the active element in human perception.
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