presence of expressive properties does not entail the occurrence of a prioract
of expression...The expressive qualities of a work of art are logically
independent of the psychological states of the artist, and humor (or sadness)
in a madrigal is neither necessary nor sufficient for amusement (or despair) in
a Monteverdi.^73Such a physiognomic similarity theory of expression seems aptly to spare us
the oddity of seemingly having to investigate Beethoven’s mind in order to
understand his work rather than the other way round.
The most complete version of a physiognomic similarity theory of expres-
sion for the arts in general has been developed by Nelson Goodman inThe
Languages of Art.^74 According to Goodman there are three conditions that are
individually necessary and jointly sufficient for a work of art to express
something. The first two conditions are that the work mustpossessthe
property that is expressed and it must alsoreferto it, in the way that a paint
chip both possesses and refers to the color that it has. Goodman’s term for
possession plus reference isexemplification. The third condition is that the
possession, and hence the exemplification, must bemetaphorical. That is, the
term ascribing the property exemplified (i.e. both possessed and referred to)
must be used in a secondary sense. As Goodman puts it, it must be used
comparatively, in carrying along with it an intended range of contrasts with
other related terms (compare“fat”contrasted with“lean”), and the compari-
sons must be invoked or brought to mind outside the habitual use or normal
“realm”of application of these contrastive terms. In short, what happens in
metaphor is that“A whole set of alternative labels, a whole apparatus of
organization, takes over new territory. What occurs is a transfer of a schema,
a migration of concepts, an alienation of categories.”^75 For example, Wed-
nesday is called fat, or theMoonlight Sonatais called melancholic. Expression
is metaphorical (alien, unusual) exemplification. The interest or point of
applying expression terms to works of art is to describe or capture–in novel
ways–certain features of works and comparisons among works that are of
interest to us. This interest is primarily cognitive; in applying expression
terms, we capture how works of art (and the subject matters they present) are
or may be seen. Reference to feeling to be recreated and worked through in
(^73) Alan Tormey,“Art and Expression: A Critique,”inPhilosophy Looks at the Arts, ed. Margo-
lis, pp. 346–61 at pp. 351, 358.
(^74) Goodman,Languages of Art, pp. 85–95. (^75) Ibid., p. 73.
Expression 99