About
Much of Professor Walton's work consists in exploring connections between theoretical questions about the arts and issues of philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and philosophy of language. His book Mimesis as Make Believe: On the Foundations of the Representational Arts, develops a theory of make-believe and uses it to understand the nature and varieties of representation in the arts. He has written extensively on pictorial representation, fiction and the emotions, the ontological status of fictional entities, imagination, the aesthetics of music, metaphor, and aesthetic value. He has held fellowships from the NEH, the ACLS, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Stanford Humanities Center. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and past President of the American Society for Aesthetics.
Publications
In Other Shoes: Essays on Music, Metaphor, Empathy, Existence (New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming).
Marvelous Images: Essays on Values and the Arts (New York: Oxford University Press, March 2008).
"Projectivism, Empathy, and Musical Tension." In Philosophical Topics, 26:1&2 (Spring & Fall, 1999).
"Metaphor and Prop Oriented Make-Believe." The European Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 1, No.1, April 1993, pp. 39–57.
Mimesis As Make-Believe: On the Foundations of the Representational Arts (Harvard University Press, 1990).
"Transparent Pictures: On the Nature of Photographic Realism," Critical Inquiry, 11/2 (December 1984) 246-277.
"Categories of Art," The Philosophical Review 79 (July 1970), pp. 334-367.
December 31, 2011 Retirement Memoir
