ABSTRACT
The topic to be discussed in this chapter is often framed in terms of the notion
of artistic truth, but it is probably better construed as a matter of knowledge,
understanding, or, even more broadly, of cognition and the communication
thereof, since what is at stake in this discussion is whether art can deliver any-
thing of epistemic value to its audiences. It is not a dispute about whether art
might contain truths independently of the possibility of audiences deriving cog-
nitive value from the relevant artworks. The crux of the debate revolves around
the question of whether art is or can be a channel for the conveyance of
knowledge, or of some other sort of cognitive advantage for readers, listeners,
and/or viewers.1 Thus, the issue might be best posed as: can we learn anything
from artworks?
