Towards a Philosophy of Photography

Posted on 18 September 2017 by Vilém Flusser

Media philosopher Vil m Flusser proposed a revolutionary new way of thinking about photography An analysis of the medium in terms of aesthetics, science and politics provided him with new ways of understanding both the cultural crises of the past and the new social forms nascent within them Flusser showed how the transformation of textual into visual culture from the linearity of history into the two dimensionality of magic and of industrial into post industrial society from work into leisure went hand in hand, and how photography allows us to read and interpret these changes with particular clarity. Free Download [ Towards a Philosophy of Photography ] by [ Vilém Flusser ] – kino-fada.fr Interesting attempt to build a theoretical framework around photography, sometimes gratifying, but not always successful The central idea of an apparatus, tied to mechanical devices, social systems, and programmed with every possibility already inherent in the device itself it s one of a number of intriguing conceptual turns taken by Flusser.I sensed two major weaknesses in Flusser s framework First, he s often rehashing ideas of other thinkers on these topics Heidegger s ideas about Interesting attempt to build a theoretical framework around photography, sometimes gratifying, but not always successful The central idea of an apparatus, tied to mechanical devices, social systems, and programmed with every possibility already inherent in the device itself it s one of a number of intriguing conceptual turns taken by Flusser.I sensed two major weaknesses in Flusser s framework First, he s often rehashing ideas of other thinkers on these topics Heid...Brief Fascinating According to Flusser, we re caught, it seems, in a Kafkaesque condition of non freedom, swallowed up so to speak by our apparatuses He describes two historical paradigm shifts the invention of writing, which he situates in the second millennium BCE and the invention of photography in the 19th century He states that the first humans were surrounded by their tools then, as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution, humans began to surround their machines finally, after th Brief Fascinating According to Flusser, we re caught, it seems, in a Kafkaesque condition of non freedom, swallowed up so to speak by our apparatuses He describes two historical paradigm shifts the invention of writing, which he situates in the second millennium BCE and the invention of photography in the 19th century He states that the first humans were surrounded by their tools then, as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution, humans began to surround their machines finally, after the invention of photography, humans came to reside within their image making apparatuses, inside the thoroughly programmed and programmable black boxes of their cameras shorthand for all systems that self program by means of feedback Flusser depicts information technologies that produce redundant and non original images, as well as poli... What a mess A philosophy book without references A multitude of quips, without thought, or little consistency with what he has said before or will say in the next sentence Is there no good thinking on photography other than Barthes Camera LucidaThis book is not about photography it is a political manifesto about freedom in a programmed world.Antikapitalistinis manifestasThe Czech philosopher, naturalized Brazilian, Vil m Flusser 1920 1991 considers the invention of photography as important as the invention of writing While writing revolutionized humanity and marked the beginning of the historical period, photography, and its new coding and symbolization of the information, make the post history, with equally revolutionary developments, developers and modifiers of humanity He has glimpsed the magical ability of a photographic image could destroy the one dime The Czech philosopher, naturalized Brazilian, Vil m Flusser 1920 1991 considers the invention of photography as important as the invention of writing While writing revolutionized humanity and marked the beginning of the historical period, photography, and its new coding and symbolization of the information, make the post history, with equally revolutionary developments, developers and...Hello So, inspired by friend traffic on this site I ll begin a temporary but sustained one per day or so.Item one sorta trendy a certain number 7 10 of years back but really, this seems a very lovely translation and is a very well couched bit of theory, because it s a great read.Prospective readers will note this is not so much a sustained analysis of photographic practice as a fresh contribution to typically mealymouthed discussions of the relation between writing and image plus a the Hello So, inspired by friend traffic on this site I ll begin a temporary but sustained one per day or so.Item one sorta trendy a certain number 7 10 of years back but really, this seems a very lovely translation and is a very well couched bit of theory, because it s a great read.Prospective readers will note this is not so much a sustained analysis of photographic practice as a fresh contribution to typically mealymouthed discussions of the relation between writing and image plus a theory of freedom.It s also very short two or three hours of your life And in fact, I m thinking it was written in English, although Flusser also wrote his early philosophy in Brazilian ehhm, Portuguese , his later mostly in German, I believe French still checking , and his native language, Czech Couched in essay form, which cost Flusser a certain amount of professional recognition...Actual rating 4.5 starsInitial thoughts I expected this book to be rootedin theory Instead, Flusser set out to contribute hypotheses to the discourse of photography He did mention this in the foreword though, so that was clear from the beginning Towards a Philosophy of Photography is not solely about photography but about the deconstruction of information how it s encoded and decoded, the cultur...Texts on photography making you think photography as system and function of the natural, scientific, and social worlds, rather than as an art or practice If you want to read about photographers or particular photographs, read others If you wish to receive...

English
18 September 2017

Vilém Flusser