Kendall L. Walton (born 1939) is a professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan. His work mainly deals with 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, the aesthetics of music, metaphor, and aesthetic value.

Books

• Mimesis as Make Believe: On the Foundations of the Representational Arts. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1990.
• Marvelous Images: On Values and the Arts. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
• In Other Shoes: Music, Metaphor, Empathy, Existence. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press (forthcoming).

External links

• Kendall Walton's home page at the University of Michigan