It is widely assumed that the art media can be individuated with reference to the sense modalities. Different art media are perceived by means of different sense modalities, and this tells us what properties of each medium are aesthetically relevant. The case of pictures appears to fit this principle well, for pictures are deemed purely and paradigmatically visual representations. However, recent psychological studies show that congenitally and early blind people have the ability to interpret and make raised‐line drawings through touch. (...) This shows that pictures are not essentially visual representations. The view that pictures are essentially visual follows from influential views of the nature of depiction and of the nature of vision that are mistaken. By rooting out the mistake, we learn something about pictures, something about vision, and something about the doctrine that art media are individuated by the sense modalities. (shrink)

The aims of this article are to outline the nature and scope of psychosemiotics and to highlight its foundations in the semiotic theory of Charles Sanders Peirce. Psychosemiotics, defined as the study of how humans learn, understand, and use signs, is grounded in the theory of the sign and semiosis as conceived by Peirce. Psychosemiotics addresses representation and meaning in seven signways: linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, social-personal, and naturalistic. Two other features of Peircean theory are emphasized: feeling and emotion (...) as Firstness lie at the heart of every developing sign, and the theory offers a framework for understanding psychosemiotics as an evolutionary phenomenon that operates within particular biological possibilities and restraints. (shrink)