Abstract

“Thin description and thick description of a work of art” is at the crossroads of analytical philosophy and iconology. The author Johann Michel questions the demarcation between the description and the interpretation of a work of art. Rather than opposing them, the article seeks to put them in dialectic, starting from the distinction proposed by Ryle between “thin description” and “thick description”. Refusing the principle of a pure and neutral description of a work of art, the contribution pleads in favor of the “integral relativism” defended by J. Margolis which is based on the principle of tolerance of incompatible interpretations, as long as they remain plausible.