ABSTRACT
Reality is a world of Ideals, and no mortal artificer creates any of its contents. The abstract ideas populating Plato’s heaven are mind-independent, fully formed, and eternally fixed. Oscar Wilde’s critique of imitation theories of artistic representation seems a far cry from his boast that art partakes in creating Nature. Wilde makes a related point in discussing the power of Japanese landscape paintings to effect perception. For Wilde and the Pragmatists, however, Plato is mistaken about their creation. For Plato, imitation is the goal of art, and it always fails to achieve it. Plato finds art’s untruths a reason for condemnation. De Groot’s account may further help explain why art much more than science are concerned with the properties of its representations. In both the arts and sciences, ideas can come from anywhere, and the unconscious processes underlying creative achievements are largely unknown.
