[From English represent: to present clearly before the mind through description or imagination; derived from Latin repraesentare: to present.]
(epistemology) The idea (opposed to realism) that the only things we can know are our representations of the world (e.g., ideas, perceptions, beliefs, etc.), not the world itself. The term is most often used in discussions of perception; the more general term is phenomenalism.
(aesthetics) The principle (opposed by abstractionism) that visual art should represent reality; sometimes also called realism.