What does ‘knowing’ mean? Otto Pächt hears Moritz Schlick

Abstract

This article outlines an approach to a manuscript by the art historian Otto Pächt, which engages with the theories of the physicist and philosopher Moritz Schlick. The focus is primarily on Pächt’s exploration of the question, ‘What means Knowing?’. It is argued that Pächt drew significant implications for his art-historical work from Schlick’s ideas. Schlick’s lectures not only encouraged Pächt to consolidate art history as an exactly distinct discipline within the concept of ‘Wissenschaftliche Weltauffassung’, but he also influenced his understanding of determining artistic ‘quality’ in a historical context, his scientific approach to artworks, and his notion of modern ‘representation theory’ in the scope of the image theory. Moreover, Otto Pächt’s fundamental conflict with none other than Ernst Gombrich is not least due to his commitment to Moritz Schlick.

In times when the possibility of perceiving reality has become increasingly dubious and ‘storytelling’ has become a buzzword in this sense, Pächt’s manuscript is, on the contrary, a resource of thought-provoking impulses. Following him requires limiting art history as an explanatory discipline or renouncing the claim to create ‘reality’.