Writings

Vilem Flusser

• Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press
• Year: 2002
• eBook ISBN: 9781452904726
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy History & Theory

Ten years after his death, Vilém Flusser’s reputation as one of Europe’s most original modern philosophers continues to grow. Increasingly influential in Europe and Latin America, the Prague-born intellectual’s thought has until now remained largely unknown in the English-speaking world. His innovative writings theorize—and ultimately embrace—the epochal shift that humanity is undergoing from what he termed "linear thinking" (based on writing) toward a new form of multidimensional, visual thinking embodied by digital culture. For Flusser, these new modes and technologies of communication make possible a society (the "telematic" society) in which dialogue between people becomes the supreme value. The first English-language anthology of Flusser’s work, this volume displays the extraordinary range and subtlety of his intellect. A number of the essays collected here introduce and elaborate his theory of communication, influenced by thinkers as diverse as Martin Buber, Edmund Husserl, and Thomas Kuhn. While taking dystopian, posthuman visions of communication technologies into account, Flusser celebrates their liberatory and humanizing aspects. For Flusser, existence was akin to being thrown into an abyss of absurd experience or "bottomlessness;" becoming human required creating meaning out of this painful event by consciously connecting with others, in part through such technologies. Other essays present Flusser’s thoughts on the future of writing, the revolutionary nature of photography, the relationship between exile and creativity, and his unconventional concept of posthistory. Taken together, these essays confirm Flusser’s importance and prescience within contemporary philosophy. 

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction Andreas Ströhl
• What Is Communication?
• On the Theory of Communication
• Line and Surface
• The Codified World
• Criteria—Crisis—Criticism
• Habit: The True Aesthetic Criterion
• Betrayal
• The Future of Writing
• Images in the New Media
• On the Crisis of Our Models
• Change of Paradigms
• Taking Up Residence in Homelessness
• Exile and Creativity
• A New Imagination
• Mythical, Historical, and Posthistorical Existence
• Photography and History
• A Historiography Revised
• The Vanity of History
• On the End of History
• Waiting for Kafka
• Orders of Magnitude and Humanism
• Celebrating
• Designing Cities
• Humanizations
• Essays
• In Search of Meaning (Philosophical Self-portrait)
• Selected Bibliography
• Copyright and Original Publication Information
• Index