For sontag, the readings include notes on camp 1964, against interpretation 1966, and in platos cave 1977, the last of which is the subject of this installment of course notes. Plato claimed that knowledge gained through the senses is no more than opinion and that, in order to have real knowledge, we must gain it through philosophical reasoning. The inventory started in 1839 and since then just about. Reading summary 2 in the excerpt from susan sontags in. As everything she wrote, susan sontags book on photography is brilliant. Sontag on photography in platos cave mind benders susan sontag from the book on photography, in platos cave mind benders. Next, said i socrates, compare our nature in respect of education and its lack to such an experience as this.
These shadows are an example of the objects we see in. It is a nostalgic time right now, and photographs actively promote nostalgia. This is a video by helen oenick covering a chapter in susan sontags book called in platos cave. In the cave by plato he describes how these people are chained up and they see these shadows on the wall. When first picking up this text what caught my eye was the title in platos cave. Susan sontag s on photography book poetry e train susan sontag. Susan sontags 1997 text, on photography, brought photographic theory into the university classroom with its staunch defence of the medium as art and inspired a new wave of marxist criticism in the field. The allegory of the cave is a theory put forward by plato, concerning human perception.
Often regarded as a utopian blueprint, the republic is dedicated toward a discussion of the education required of a philosopherking. Platos cave this very insatiability of the photographing eye changes the terms, the confinement in the cave, our world. Stretching a long way up toward the daylight is its entrance, toward which the entire cave is gathered. Humankind lingers unregenerately in plato s cave, still reveling, its ageold habit, in mere images of the truth. Sontag explains the way in which we are addicted to images and depend on them for knowledge of. Humanity, argues susan sontag in in platos cave in her collec on of essays on photography, is. This change has eventually caused us to even change the knowledge we believe to obtain from what we see. Photos arent reality but they are just frozen moment of something.
Anyone interested in the social roles of photography will find this book fascinating and thoughtprovoking. In platos cave summary nude answers, 2016 your bibliography. Course notes susan sontag, in platos cave, from on. Susan sontag in plato s cave free essays studymode. The point of the metaphor of the cave is that people sit inside the cave and watch shadows being reflected against a wall, and are transfixed by these moving images. Sontags many honors are the 2003 peace prize of the german book trade, the 2003 prince of asturias prize, the 2001 jerusalem prize, and the national book critics circle award for on photography 1978. Without the development of the digital camera, society would be a completely different entity. Find a summary of this and each chapter of on photography. It is a set of essays on the philosophy of picturetaking and the meaning of photography in the modern ca. On email protected susan sontag, in platos cave from the book. Photographs will offer indisputable evidence that the trip was made, that the program was carried out, that fun was had 9. In the book, sontag expresses her views on the history and presentday role of photography in capitalist societies as of the 1970s.
In platos cave by susan sontag susan sontags in platos cave was an enlightening article to read after platos allegory of the cave because it applies to current culture and the affect the camera has on society and social constructs of today. In susan sontags essay in platos cave from her books on photography sontag argues that even though platos philosophy exist over years ago that society as a whole is still in fact in platos cave. Susan sontag was born in new york city on january 16, 1933. Sontag draws an analogy between our viewing of photographs and the prisoners in platos cave.
Public intellectual, polymath, provocatrice roundtable discussion with joan acocella, robert boyers, roger copeland, philip lopate, and james miller. Humanity, argues susan sontag in in platos cave in her collection of essays on photography, is still in platos cave. In platos cave america, seen through photographs, darkly melancholy objects the heroism of vision photographic evangels the imageworld a brief anthology of quotations. One of sontags main observations about photography is that photographs are like the shadows inside the ancient greek philosopher platos metaphorical cave. In the excerpt from susan sontags, in platos cave, sontag uses the allegory of platos cave to relate to photography in our modern age. In platos cave humankind lingers unregenerately in platos cave, still reveling, its ageold habit, in mere images of the truth. Doc analysis of susan sontags writing on photography. First off, i think the title of susan sontags chapter is interesting take on the relationship between the story or message of platos cave and photography, given what i remember about the story. According to plato everything in our world is just an image of the perfect object. Analysis of susan sontags writing on photography and a critical interpretation of a photograph. It humankind lingers unregenerately in platos cave, still reveling, its ageold habit, in mere images of the truth.
Ebook or pdf edited book email encyclopedia article govt. Plato the allegory of the cave republic, vii 514 a, 2 to. He goes on to explain the anxiety pain tabula rasa. In platos cave by susan sontag in susan sontags view, both platos cave images and photographs represent mere images of the truth p. Susan sontag art history bibliographies cite this for me. Sontags background in philosophy is evident in this argument, as she uses the philosophical definition of understanding a. Internet archive contributor internet archive language english. The allegory of the cave can be found in book vii of platos bestknown work, the republic, a lengthy dialogue on the nature of justice.
Photography, she writes, implies that we know about the world if we accept it as the camera records it. Susan sontags on photography book poetry e train susan sontag. This essay argues that the good is a forgotten central aspect of platos allegory of the cave, and that this forgetfulness about the good is partly the result of literacy and literate. In susan sontags in platos cave, she says that it seems positively unnatural to travel for pleasure without taking a camera along. It is a nostalgic time right now, and photographs actively promote. For one thing, there are a great many more images around, claiming our attention. But being educated by photographs is not like being educated by older, more artisanal images. Books, quotes, on photography, essays, intelligence, biography, education susan sontag. People live under the earth in a cavelike dwelling. Plato the allegory of the cave republic, vii 514 a, 2 to 517 a, 7 translation by thomas sheehan. Susan sontag use the metaphor of platos cave to say that you have to experience the world in order for you to know what objects are truly real in a photographed because photos can lie.
John berger and susan sontag to tell a story 1983 john berger and susan sontag speak about story telling and about the ethic of photography. Susan sontag starts her book on photography with a reference to platos cave, a dark prison only a few escape. Susan sontag from the book on photography, in platos cave mind benders. Susan sontag tells us in platos cave that photography makes us feel that the world is more available than it really is. Plato a student of socrates suggested the story of a cave in which youths had been imprisoned from an early age and restrained so as to only see images produced in the fashion of shadow theatre, with no exposure to the real objects that cast them. It begins with the famous in platos caveessay, then offers five other prose meditations on this topic, and concludes with a fascinating. The article makes several basic observations on how photographs have caused us as humans to evolve in how we see things. Sontag comes on to strengthen her agreement by talking about how photography in a form of imprisonment that creates an. Photography changes are conditions of imprisonment and create a kind of ethics of vision and the feeling that we can contain the whole world in our heads. Sontag s many honors are the 2003 peace prize of the german book trade, the 2003 prince of asturias prize, the 2001 jerusalem prize, and the national book critics circle award for on photography 1978. Humankind lingers unregenerately in plato s cave, still reveling, its age. Most subjects photographed are, just by virtue of being photographed, touched with pathos. By studying philosophy and ethics previously i had a general gist of. On photography is a 1977 collection of essays by susan sontag.
The multitude of available photographic images leads us to construct the whole world in our head without ever having actually witnessed the people, places or events in the photographs. Susan sontag on photography in platos cave mind benders susan sontag from the book on photography, in plato s cave mind benders. It remains a solid overview of the field nearly 40 years after it was first published. She highlights power dynamics, the difference and distance between experience and its capture, and the complications of understanding as flattening the cameras capability to capture. Sontag critiques the presence of photographythe photograph through a comparison to platos allegory of the cave. Humankind lingers unregenerately in platos cave, still reveling, its ageold habit, in mere images of the truth. Chapter summary for susan sontags on photography, in platos cave summary.
Through the essay in platos cave, sontag uses the term truth almost interchangeable with the term reality but she disregards defining either of them. Susan sontags famous critique of photography entitled in platos cave starts with an analogy drawn from ancient greek philosophy. I think it is clever that susan sontags title draws the idea of mixed realities into the understanding of photography, as she. Here sontag is saying that photographs provide evidence, that the trip. Susan sontag 2003 reading in philadelphia this is a. Susan sontag s 1977 book on photography is home to some of the most widely cited thinking in the field. It defines and presages the thinking that underlies the whole book. Winner of the national book critics circle award for criticism one of the most highly regarded books of its kind, on photography first appeared in 1977 and is described by its author as a progress of essays about the meaning and career of photographs. Humankind lingers unregenerately in platos cave, still reveling, its age. Susan sontag art history bibliographies in harvard style.
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