Art history and empiricism: a response to Ian Verstegen’s review of Meyer Schapiro’s Critical Debates

Abstract

In this letter to the editor, I counter Ian Verstegen’s suggestion in his recent review of my book that Meyer Schapiro’s critiques of the grand theories of the 20th century were anti-theoretical. Rather than sceptical refutations of art-historical theory in general, Schapiro’s engagements with figures like Freud and Heidegger betray his awareness that empiricism and pragmatism are themselves philosophical practices.

Keywords

• meyer schapiro
• empiricism
• pragmatism
• art history
• art historiography