Engell Ontographies

A Media Philosophy of Immanence
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-1-80413-247-0
Verlag: University of Exeter Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 140 Seiten

Reihe: Exeter Concepts in Media Thinking

Ontographies proposes a radical shift, moving beyond the crisis of representation by embracing a philosophy of immanence, and offering a vital new perspective for understanding our media-saturated world.

In light of recent media developments in algorithmic, digital and picture-based mediaspheres, we must accept that received models of representation (in politics, in the realm of signs, in philosophies of consciousness) have long since collapsed. Nothing stands for anything any longer; the world has a massive media ontological problem. This book provides readers with a way to, if not cope with this problem, then at least map it and thereby to think beyond it. The volume sets out the concept of ontographies as a completely different form of access to the world, one that can overtake (and ultimately replace) the media ontological challenge of our time.

Through a rich tapestry of examples—from Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited and Oscar Cavandoli’s La Linea to analogue photography and algorithmic computation—Ontographies argues that the world does not operate via hierarchical structures of signification (signifier/signified, beings/Being, subject/object) but by way of immanent, operative processes of inscription that blur the boundaries between recording and reality.

Whatever exists comes into being through graphic operations: ontography. Indeed, the world exists solely insofar as it operatively records and describes or is being recorded and described. This compelling, refreshing book presents a bold and provocative intervention in media philosophy, challenging the dominant frameworks of representation, ontology and mediation.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Engell, Lorenz

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Erkenntnistheorie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Ästhetik
• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik Digital Lifestyle
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturwissenschaften Kulturwissenschaften
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Medienwissenschaften

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Prologue: Cartographies

1 Phantographies  1. Heterographies  2. Phenographies

2 Cinematographies

3 Chronographies

4 Cosmographies

5 Historiographies

Epilogue: Hydrographies  1. Swimming Upstream  2. The Parallax View  3. The Ontoface  4. Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Filmography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Engell, Lorenz
Lorenz Engell is professor of Media Philosophy at Bauhaus Universität Weimar, Germany. Prior to that, he was professor of Perception, Communication, and Media Studies (HAB Weimar 1993–2003). His habilitation was in Film and TV studies with ‘Motion Description’. He was co-director of the Internationales Kolleg für Kulturtechnikforschung und Medienphilosophie” (IKKM), Weimar 2008–2020. Among his recent books are The Switch Image: Television Philosophy and (coedited With Christiane Voß and Tim Othold) Anthropologies of Entanglement. His current research focuses on Media Anthropology, Media Ontology and Media Philosophy of Nature.