Arnheim, Gestalt and Media

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Arnheim After the Post-medium Condition

   • Ian Verstegen

   Pages 1-14

3. Gestalt Ontology

   • Ian Verstegen

   Pages 15-30

4. What All Media Share

   • Ian Verstegen

   Pages 31-43

5. Defining Difference in Media

   • Ian Verstegen

   Pages 45-61

6. The Two Elementary Classes of Aesthetic Objects: Spatial and Temporal Modalities

   • Ian Verstegen

   Pages 63-78

7. The Spatial and Temporal Modalities

   • Ian Verstegen

   Pages 79-92

8. The Ontology of the Individual Modalities

   • Ian Verstegen

   Pages 93-112

9. Medial Composites

   • Ian Verstegen

   Pages 113-131

10. Conclusion: Medial Wisdom

    • Ian Verstegen

    Pages 133-136

This monograph presents a synthesis and reconstruction of Rudolf Arnheim’s theory of media. Combining both Arnheim’s well-known writings on film and radio with his later work on the psychology of art, the author presents a coherent approach to the problem of the nature of a medium, space and time, and the differentia between different media. The latent ontological commitments of Arnheim’s theories is drawn out by affirming Arnheim’s membership in the Brentano school of Austrian philosophy, which allows his theories to be clarified and strengthened, particularly with the metaphysical writings of Roman Ingarden. The resulting theory is relational, portraying essential medial differences with neutral criteria and allowing for a rigorous definition of a medium. The way in which a medium is based on the inherent dispositions of medial materials creates a highly appealing theory that is determinate without being deterministic. The theory is thus highly timely as people in media studies seekto address the determinate nature of media after the post-medium condition. The book will appeal to researchers and graduate students in cultural and media studies as well as architecture and design.

• Roman Ingarden
• Rudolf Arnheim
• Two Elementary Classes of Aesthetic Objects
• Defining Difference in Media
• Media Ontology
• What is a Medium
• Spatial and Temporal Modalities
• Ontology of the Individual Media
• Artistic Composites
• Medial Differentiation
• Ontology of Renaissance Realism
• 20th Century Animation and the Concretization of Make-Believe
• Presence and Virtual Reality

• Visual Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

  Ian Verstegen

Ian Verstegen is Associate Director of Visual Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He has published on early modern and modern art history, art historiography, aesthetics and philosophy. He is the author of Arnheim, Gestalt and Art (also with Springer). His most recent book is Federico Barocco and the Oratorians. 

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