Abstract

This chapter shows that there is a notion of representation in which truth and representation go together while representation openly and proudly parades the roots it has in aesthetic representation. The main uses of representation are linguistic representation, political representation, and aesthetic representation. Truth has been used for political representation – when a political collectivity engages its political will. Representation becomes a mere spin‐off of the notion of truth adapting itself to anything the philosopher of language has to say about truth. Toward the end of his Connections to the World, Danto characterizes the human being as an ens representans, suggesting that the capacity of representation is our essence, as human beings. Historical reality only comes into being ex post facto when the past no longer exists. Historical writing is the science of the ex post facto.