On Images, Visual Culture, Memory and the Play Without a Script
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published: 2021
Language: eng
Number of pages: 192
ISBN-13: 9781501358845
Subjects: Philosophy
Description: "Matthias Smalbrugge compares modern images to plays without a script: while they appear to refer to a deeper identity or reality, it is ultimately the image itself that truly matters. He argues that our modern society of images is the product of a destructive tendency in the Christian notion of the image in general, and Augustine of Hippo's in particular. This insight enables him to propose a new 'script'. As we live in an increasingly visual culture, we are constantly confronted with images that seem to exist without a deeper identity or reality ? but did this referential character truly get lost over time? Smalbrugge first explores the roots of the modern image by analysing imagery, what it represents, and its moral state within the framework of philosophy and pelagianism. Smalbrugge then discusses the work of Plato and Plotinus, homing in on their notion of being human. This brings him to Augustine's Confessions and De Trinitate , where he finds valuable insights into images and memory. He explores the theologian's relationship with Petrach, nominalism, and Foucault. Smalbrugge ultimately answers two questions: what happened to the referential character of the image, and can it be recovered?."--