What Philosophy Wants from Images What Philosophy Wants from Images D. N. Rodowick The University of Chicago Press :: Chicago and London The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2017 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more information, contact the University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637. Published 2017 Printed in the United States of America 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 1 2 3 4 5 isbn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 51305- 8 (cloth) isbn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 51319- 5 (paper) isbn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 51322- 5 (e- book) doi: 10.7208/chicago/9780226513225.001.0001 Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Rodowick, David Norman, author. Title: What philosophy wants from images / D. N. Rodowick. Description: Chicago; London: The University of Chicago Press, 2017. | Includes index. Identifi ers: lccn 2017015713 | isbn 9780226513058 (cloth: alk. paper) | isbn 9780226513195 (pbk.: alk. paper) | isbn 9780226513225 (e- book) Subjects: lcsh: Motion pictures— Social aspects. Classifi cation: lcc pn1995 .r6195 2017 | ddc 302.23/43—dc23 lc record  available at https:// lccn .loc .gov/ 2017015713 This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48- 1992 (Permanence of Paper). For Sarah, as she takes her fi rst steps into the wild . . . Contents Preface ix 1 The Memory of Cinema 1 2 The Queer Attractions of Perceptual Belief 24 3 A Virtual Presence in Space 46 4 Harun Farocki’s Liberated Consciousness 75 5 The Force of Small Gestures 103 Epilogue: Welcome to This Situation 137 Index 143 Preface No one was more surprised than I by the appearance of this book, which came into the world like an unexpected child, though no less loved for that. And indeed the un- anticipated pleasure of this book was echoed by other signifi cant changes in my life and career over the past eight years. Finishing books is almost as great a pleasure as writ- ing them. However, after The Virtual Life of Film was published in 2007, I was completely preoccupied with the manuscript that would become Elegy for Theory and Phi- losophy’s Artful Conversation, which had been in devel- opment on tracks parallel to Virtual Life. The last things on my mind then were digital images or digital culture. Yet I was suddenly the recipient of many gracious invita- tions to speak on those very topics on which I felt my imagination had been completely exhausted, or at least overrun with new philosophical preoccupations. This period also coincided with my tenure in the De- partment of Visual and Environmental Studies and the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard Uni- versity. Among my greatest pleasures there was the close daily contact with artists and the teaching of studio art, which reinvigorated and deepened my interest in contem- porary art. Another welcome consequence of teaching in an art department was the unexpected return of my own