How Photography Changed Philosophy

By analysing the philosophical lineage of notions of representation, time, being, light, exposure, image, and truth, this book argues that photography is the visual manifestation of the philosophical account of how humans encounter beings in the present.

Daniel Rubinstein argues that traditional understandings of photography are determined by the notions of verisimilitude and representation, and this limits our understanding of photographic materiality. It is suggested that the photographic image must be closely read not for the objects, events and situations represented in it, but for the insights it affords into the structure of contemporary consciousness.

The book will be of interest to scholars working in photography, media studies, philosophy, fine art, and art history.

Daniel Rubinstein is Reader in Philosophy and the Image in the Art Programme at Central Saint Martins, London where he leads the MA program in Contemporary Photography: Practices and Philosophies, and Associate Professor in Visual Communication at the Department of Business, Strategy and Political Sciences, University of South-Eastern Norway.