Iconic Turn

The September 2015 photograph of Alan Kurdi, a 3-year-old Syrian boy, lying facedown and dead on a Turkish beach, quickly became an iconic representation of Europe's “refugee crisis.” Even though images of distant suffering of refugees have become ubiquitous, only a few become iconic. It is this cultural process of iconization that often bedevils sociologists interested in visuality. How does an image gain the necessary currency to sway public opinion or even policy making? Why do some photographs elicit profound compassion that transcends the borders of its particular context? In this review, we explore how various authors have addressed these questions, focusing on the iconic images of Alan Kurdi. The “iconic turn” in cultural sociology and in the social sciences more broadly speaking offers theoretical and methodological insights for the analysis of images such as those depicting refugees and asylum seekers. For this reason, we situate the current work in the field of refugee photography within the framework of cultural sociology, even if many of the scholars discussed are from other disciplines.

Resumen: Frente a la continua afirmación de la irrepresentabilidad de los acontecimientos, me planteo la siguiente pregunta: ¿De dónde procede la afirmación del carácter inimagi-nable, irrepresentable, indecible de los procesos de genocidio del siglo XX? Para contestar a esta pregunta me refiero en una primera parte al carácter icónico de los retratos de los desparecidos, para luego entender cuál es el marco sobre el cual se instala la afirmación acerca de lo irrepresentable. Summary: Against the continuous assertion of the incapability of represent events, I present the next question: Where does originate the idea about the unimaginable, irrepresentable, unspeakable character of the genocide processes of 20th century? To answer this question I expound, in the first part, the iconic character of the missing persons portraits, in order to understand the frame in which can be established the assertion about the irrepresentable.

It is often thought that consciousness has a qualitative dimension that cannot be tracked by science. Recently, however, some philosophers have argued that this worry stems not from an elusive feature of the mind, but from the special nature of the concepts used to describe conscious states. Marc Champagne draws on the neglected branch of philosophy of signs or semiotics to develop a new take on this strategy. 

The term “semiotics” was introduced by John Locke in the modern period – its etymology is ancient Greek, and its theoretical underpinnings are medieval. Charles Sanders Peirce made major advances in semiotics, so he can act as a pipeline for these forgotten ideas. Most philosophers know Peirce as the founder of American pragmatism, but few know that he also coined the term “qualia,” which is meant to capture the intrinsic feel of an experience. Since pragmatic verification and qualia are now seen as conflicting commitments, Champagne endeavors to understand how Peirce could (or thought he could) have it both ways. The key, he suggests, is to understand how humans can insert distinctions between features that are always bound.

Recent attempts to take qualities seriously have resulted in versions of panpsychism, but Champagne outlines a more plausible way to achieve this. So, while semiotics has until now been the least known branch of philosophy ending in –ics, his book shows how a better understanding of that branch can move one of the liveliest debates in philosophy forward.

Abstract: The article attempts to approximate notions of " visual culture " , " visual communication " and " data visualization " , which appeared with the pictorial and iconic turn. The pictorial turn made the picture rise to the rank of sign system, like language within the poststructuralist reflection. In contrast thanks to the changes in art history Visual Culture Studies came into being. Together with the rise of Visual Culture Studies there also arose the need to define the term " visual culture ". Doris Bachmann-Medick characterizes the iconic turn as a late reaction of art history to the linguistic turn, which discovers painting to be a textual and discursive phenomenon. In this situation Norman Bryson's semiotics of image arose, which refers to the notion of " the language of images ". It is another need for a definition of " visual communication ". The expansion of new media poses for another challenge to visual culture, which is the need to define " data visualization ". Mitchell announced a new version of the pictorial turn, which took place in towards biopictures, or biodigital pictures. These " animated icons " have been given the characteristics of life by the biological-information technology. It is another " pictorial turn " , which Mitchell calls the " biopictorial turn ". However, the definition of " data visualization " is shaped by " digital turn " , which make that " data visualization " is a practice for endowing the raw, mathematical sequences of codes in databases with an anthropologically and culturally shapes. Currently, the definitions of "data visualization" is also built based on theory of databases and software studies by Lev Manovich. Finally, I would like to ask question deal with risks and benefits of the presence of pictorial and iconic turn.

"„Die religionswissenschaftliche Darstellung einer Religion“, so schrieb vor einigen Jahren Fritz Stolz, „hat normalerweise die Form einer Lehre, welche den Anspruch erhebt, die ‚Botschaft‘ dieser Religion zusammenzufassen.“
In einem Abstraktionsverfahren werden die vielfältigen (mitunter widersprüchlichen) Zeugnisse einer Religion ausgewählt, geordnet und systematisiert. Vorannahmen über das, was Religion eigentlich sei, steuern diesen Selektions- und Systematisierungs-Prozess. Derlei gewöhnlich nicht reflektierte Annahmen entstammen dem Fundus abendländischer Religions- und Geistesgeschichte. Im Bauplan solcher religionswissenschaftlich entfalteten Religion finden sich dementsprechend immer wiederkehrende Elemente: „Glaube“ als ein Geflecht von Vorstellungen und Konzepten; „Kult“ als Äußerungsform des Glaubens; und „Ethik“ als Konglomerat handlungsleitender Normen und Vorschriften.
Religionen äußern sich in aller Regel in verschiedenen parallelen Kodierungsformen von Sprache, Bild, Handlung. Deren Stellenwert innerhalb einer Religion ist mehrfach variabel, sowohl in synchroner als auch diachroner Hinsicht, ebenso in Bezug auf die Interessen, den Einfluss und Status von Laien und Experten. Mit seinen Überlegungen verweist Fritz Stolz auf folgende Grundtatsachen: Wahrnehmung und Kommunikation von Religion ist ein intermedialer körperlich-sinnlicher Vorgang. Religionsforschung muss daher mehr sein als Philologie und die historisch komparatistische Entfaltung von Lehre, Kult und Ethik. Daran anknüpfend entwerfe ich einen Frage- und Themenhorizont, der die Bedeutung „ikonischer Repräsentation von Religion“ herausarbeitet."

Résumé

Le web et les images qui y foisonnent font désormais partie de notre quotidien et ils façonnent notre manière de penser le monde. Certaines œuvres d’art permettent, semble-t-il, de réfléchir à la fois sur l’image, les technologies web, les relations qu’elles entretiennent et les enjeux sociopolitiques qui les sous-tendent. C’est dans cette perspective que ce mémoire s’intéresse aux travaux de la série des Googlegrams (2004-2006) de Joan Fontcuberta, particulièrement à deux œuvres qui reprennent les photographies de torture de la prison d’Abu Ghraib devenues iconiques. Ce sont des photomosaïques utilisant ces images comme matrices dans lesquelles viennent s’insérer des milliers de petites images qui ont été trouvées dans le web grâce au moteur de recherche d’images de Google, selon certains mots-clés choisis par l’artiste de façon à faire écho à ces photographies-matrices. Ces œuvres sont ici considérées en tant qu’outils d’études actifs nous permettant de déployer les assemblages d’images et de technologies qu’elles font interagir. Il s’agit de suivre les acteurs et les réseaux qui se superposent et s’entremêlent dans les Googlegrams : d’abord les photographies d’Abu Ghraib et leur iconisation ; ensuite le moteur de recherche et sa relation aux images ; finalement les effets de la photomosaïque. Cette étude s’effectue donc à partir des interactions entre ces différents éléments qui constituent les œuvres afin de réfléchir sur leurs rôles dans le façonnement de la représentation de l’information.
Mots-clés : Culture visuelle ; web ; photomosaïque ; Abu Ghraib ; Googlegrams de Joan Fontcuberta.


Abstract

The Web and its proliferating images have become part of our daily lives, thereby shaping the way we think about the world. It seems that some artworks allow us to ponder on the role of the image, Web technologies and their intricate relationship, as well as underlying socio-political issues. In this regard, this thesis examines the works of Joan Fontcuberta’s Googlegrams series (2004-2006), more specifically two artworks that are reworking iconic torture photographs of the Abu Ghraib prison. Thousands of smaller images are inserted into the photographs to refashion them into photomosaics. The images are found on the Web using Google Images search function with key words chosen by the artist in order to echo the source photographs. Considered here as tools of active study, these artworks allow us to unfold the assemblage of images and technologies that they are making interact. The aim is to follow the actors and the networks that are superimposed and interwoven within the Googlegrams: the Abu Ghraib photographs and their iconization; the search engine and its relationship with images; as well as the effects of the photomosaic. This study is driven by the interactions between these various elements that form the artworks as a means of reflecting upon their shaping roles in the representation of information.

Historians occasionally use timelines, but many seem to regard such signs merely as ways of visually summarizing results that are presumably better expressed in prose. Challenging this language-centered view, I suggest that timelines might assist the generation of novel historical insights. To show this, I begin by looking at studies confirming the cognitive benefits of diagrams like timelines. I then try to survey the remarkable diversity of timelines by analyzing actual examples. Finally, having conveyed this (mostly untapped) potential, I argue that neglecting timelines might mean neglecting significant aspects of reality that are revealed only by those signs. My overall message is that, once we accept that relations are as important for the mind as what they relate, we have to pay closer attention to any semiotic device that enables or facilitates the discernment of new relations.

La philosophie de Merleau-Ponty est devenue une référence incontournable pour aborder les questions soulevées par nos rencontres sensibles avec l’univers visuel contemporain. Ce livre propose une traversée de cette pensée en abordant certains nœuds théoriques encore largement inexplorés : la question de l’image, le statut du médium et de la technique, la référence merleau-pontienne au cinéma, ainsi que la notion d’écran en sa relation avec le corps. Ce parcours transdisciplinaire permet de situer ces concepts par rapport aux sources et aux différentes phases de la réflexion merleau-pontienne, en mettant en relief notamment l’importance des notes de cours sur “Le monde sensible et le monde de l’expression”, en même temps qu’il en explore l’impact et les enjeux en termes de théorie de l’image, au sein de la culture visuelle, de la Bildwissenschaft, des études cinématographiques, ainsi que des théories et philosophies des médias contemporains.

In diesem Beitrag möchte ich Hans G. Kippenbergs wichtige Anstöße zur religionswissenschaftlichen Nutzung des Austinschen Diskursbegriffes aufgreifen und gleichzeitig an seine Überlegungen zur visuellen Kommunikation im Kontext ‚Religion‘ anknüpfen. Es ist beabsichtigt, erste Schritte zu einem Dialog zwischen Religionswissenschaft und einer im Entstehen begriffenen anthropologischen Bildwissenschaft einzuleiten. Beide Dialogpartner, so meine Überzeugung, können aus dieser Begegnung Gewinn ziehen.

This paper suggests that reference to phenomenal qualities is best understood as involving iconicity, that is, a passage from sign-vehicle to object that exploits a similarity between the two. This contrasts with a version of the ‘phenomenal concept strategy’ that takes indexicality to be central. However, since it is doubtful that phenomenal qualities are capable of causally interacting with anything, indexical reference seems inappropriate. While a theorist like David Papineau is independently coming to something akin to iconicity, I think some of the awkwardness that plagues his account would be remedied by transitioning to a more inclusive philosophy of signs.

Extended Abstract in English at the end of the book and of the pdf-document.
Short Abstract in Croatian:
Gledano kroz povijest kršćanstva, umjetničke slike su neodvojive od prakse i interpretacije vjere. Slike, koje autorica ovdje razumijeva prvenstveno kao vizualnu interpretaciju sadržaja vjere, činjenično su prisutne i korisne za život u vjeri i njezino razumijevanje. Međutim, refleksija o mjestu i važnosti tih slika unutar raznolikoga govora vjere nije se razvila proporcionalno njihovoj raširenosti i funkcijama. K tome, umjetničke slike obično se nisu uzimale ni kao referentni izvori za teologiju kojima bi se upotpunilo jezično i pojmovno razumijevanje vjere. Emancipacija moderne umjetnosti od vjerskoga života i crkvenoga autoriteta dodatno je otežala teološko vrednovanje umjetničkih slika. Nepovoljnom odnosu umjetnosti i vjere pridonijela je i sama teologija, usmjerena na racionalnost prosvjetiteljskoga tipa koja slikama ne priznaje spoznajnu vrijednost. Ipak, suvremeno zanimanje za slikovni prikaz u društvenim, kulturnim i misaonim kretanjima potaknulo je teologiju da se sustavnije bavi slikom i s njom povezanim pitanjima u kontekstu refleksije vjere. Ovaj kratki opis mjesta slike u kršćanstvu potaknuo je autoricu na pobliže proučavanje značenja slike unutar raznolikoga govora vjere.

Istraživanje je provela u tri koraka, koji čine tri glavna dijela knjige. U prvom dijelu s naslovom: »Slike u kršćanstvu – povijesnoteološki naglasci« autorica prati mjesto slike kroz povijest kršćanstva te ga dopunja određenim sustavnoteološkim temama i autorima. Autorica predstavlja četiri glavna načina uporabe slika u govoru vjere, koji su se zadržali više ili manje sve do danas: slike u funkciji poučavanja u vjeri, slike za kult, slike za pobožnost i meditaciju te slike kao umjetnička djela. Autorica u tome dijelu predstavlja i teološke – kristološkoinkarnacijske i teološkoantrpološke argumente u prilog mogućnosti slika u kršćanstvu. Konačno se osvrće na mjesto slike u odnosu na navještaj riječi i sakramente kroz povijest kršćanstva.

U drugome dijelu s naslovom »Suvremeni teološki pristupi slici« autorica predstavlja i vrednuje interpretacije slike dva odabrana suvremena teologa. Prvi je fundamentalni teolog Alex Stock koji je u jedanaest svezaka izradio svoje monumentalno djelo Poetische Dogmatik. Peter Hofmann drugi je njemački teolog, također iz područja fundamentalne teologije, koji slikama daje nezamjenjivu vrijednost i ističe njihov izražajni potencijal koji se ne da potpuno prevesti u riječi.

Treći dio knjige nosi naslov »Interpretacija vjere u raznolikosti slikovnih prikazivanja«. Kroz povijesni i teološki put promišljanja mjesta i uloge slike u govoru vjere postalo je jasno da nije dovoljno razmišljati samo »apstraktno« o slici i da nije moguće zadržati se samo na teorijskom promišljanju slike. Autorica svoj pristup slikama opisuje kao teološku meditaciju, jer je to jedan od načina da se na osoban način stupi u interakciju sa slikom i da se otkrije njezina poruka. Ukupno 55 slika autorica je odabrala po osobnoj inspiraciji, ali s ciljem da obuhvati što različitije vjerske motive, načine prikazivanja, stilove, autore i vremena. Raznolikost autora, razdoblja, motiva i interpretacija jasno pokazuje da je poruka vjere u svome razumijevanju neiscrpna i da se na različite načine može doživljavati, predočivati i aktualizirati u svakome vremenu i kod svakoga autora.

La hipótesis que defenderemos, y que competiría con la «identidad
narrativa» postulada por Ricoeur, consiste en explorar lo que daremos
en llamar la «identidad icónica». Ella apunta a que convertir una
vida biológica en una vida humana exigiría el rol mediador de la
imagen. Poner a prueba nuestra hipótesis exigirá esclarecer el estatuto
de la «imagen» e incursionar críticamente en la teoría ricoeuriana de
la imaginación. A esta altura trazaremos un paralelismo entre una
teoría más potente de la imagen y el papel mediador asignado por
Ricoeur al correlato aristotélico mythos-mímesis en su «triple mímesis».
Concluiremos este trabajo con un balance sobre las ventajas y los
desafíos generados por la «identidad icónica».

One of the key challenges of meaning-centred cultural sociology is facing the findings of contemporary anthropology,
archaeology, art history and material culture studies. Specifically, the increasingly pressing task is to recognize the
sociological limitations of the semiotic framework laid bare by those disciplines. The traditional structuralist focus on
discursive codes and the assumption of arbitrariness of cultural sign is of limited service in understanding the power
of complex representational economies and especially in the task of explaining its variability. The language- and
communication-centred framework downplays the fact that signifiers credited with causal social power are inescapably
embedded in open-ended but not arbitrary patterns of material signification. There is ample evidence delivered by
the recent studies within the aforementioned fields that such signifiers are ‘not just the garb of meaning’, to use the
insightful phrase of Webb Keane. Rather, the significatory patterns and their material and sensuous entanglements co-constitute meanings that inform social action.

Therefore, more integrative and multidimensional models of culture in action are needed. Some specific explanatory models have been explicitly formulated by a series of intertwined conceptual ‘turns’ in human sciences: material, performative, spatial and iconic, among others. By showing that meanings are
always embedded in and enacted by the concrete assemblages of materiality and corporeality, they enable sociologists to
transcend the linguistic bias of classical structuralist hermeneutics. This paper discusses the importance of iconicity for developing such an integrative perspective without abandoning some constitutive insights of the linguistic turn. I focus on
the transformative works of contemporary scholars like Daniel Miller,Webb Keane, Ian Hodder, and Jeffrey Alexander, as
well as on my own research, to illustrate the implications of the aforementioned paradigmatic ‘turns’. In particular, I aim
at elaborating a key principle of material culture studies: different orders of semiosis are differently subject to
determination and/or autonomous logic of the cultural text. As a result, differently structured signifiers are responsive to
distinct modes of ‘social construction’ and historical transformation. We need to keep paying attention to the Austinian
question of how to do things with words, but we cannot keep doing it as if things social were at the same time not done
with images, objects, places, and bodies and all that their specific character and use imply. Fleshing out the so-expanded
sociological imagination helps us to activate the full potential of understanding and explanation that the concept of
culture possesses, and thus, to decisively turn culture on.

Why do people in the UK read and collect books when there are so many other sources of information and forms of story-telling available? What are the material and experiential bases of book love? People are attached to books because books are icons: they embody and enable the realisation of sacred cultural goods. Books do not simply communicate or signal social values or ideas. Aesthetic immersion in books’ materiality allows for these values to be realised. On the basis of the qualitative analysis of 43 interviews and 60 responses to the UK’s Mass Observation project this article advances the cultural sociology of reading by bridging theories of iconicity and attachment and placing materiality at the centre of the analysis. The data are used to illustrate the powerful appeal of the practical fusion of three elements: the material, surface properties of books; the highly valued cultural goods that books represent and realise; and the act of reading.

El "giro icónico" es una manera de identificar una cierta orientación de las últimas décadas en los estudios de filosofía y las humanidades, tomando a la imagen como el centro de sus reflexiones. En este artículo se realiza una breve revisión de algunas de las nociones principales de dos de los teóricos más reconocidos del giro icónico: Gottfried Boehm y W.J.T. Mitchell. El objetivo es poner estos términos en relación con la historia de la filosofía y sobre todo poner a estos autores en diálogo con otros de sus contemporáneos que abordan también el tema de la imagen. Como cierre del artículo se detectan una serie de giros derivados del mismo y se advierten algunas conjeturas sobre lo que puede aportar este giro a nuestra visión sobre la filosofía en la actualidad.

The present article develops a new approach to intellectual history and sociology of knowledge. Its point of departure is to investigate the conditions under which social thinkers assume the iconic reputation. What does it take to become ‘a founding father’ of a humanistic discipline? How do social thinkers achieve the status of a trans-disciplinary star? Why some intellectuals attract tremendous attention and ‘go down in history’ despite personal and professional failures, while others enjoy only limited recognition or simply sink into oblivion, even if they have met all the standards of their day? Quite a few sociologists have tackled this elusive issue. Pierre Bourdieu, Michele Lamont and Randall Collins are among those who fleshed out strong explanatory frameworks. This project adds to this body of knowledge by emphasizing cultural factors that these authors downplayed in their seminal accounts, despite being aware of their significance. By showing why these underdeveloped aspects of their works need to be incorporated into the debate and how this can be achieved, this article introduces a new theorization of the iconic, lasting intellectual reputation substantiated by evidence from the lifeworks of Bronislaw Malinowski and Michel Foucault. As such, it aims, minimally, to make sociology of knowledge decisively ‘cultural’. Maximally, it seeks to demonstrate that the iconic success of intellectual intervention in social theory depends on carefully performed and contingently mediated engagement with the binary systems of symbolic classification.

À partir de l'analyse de "L'appareil-photo" (1988) de l'écrivain belge Jean-Philippe Toussaint, l'article envisage la poétique postmoderne de l'auteur comme singulièrement soucieuse de la perte de repère par rapport au monde, conséquente du développement trop rapide des technologies et nouveaux médias. Le roman se pose en écran du réel, qui ne laisse filtrer que les infimes traces de son déroulement, ce qui contribue à la fragmentation du sujet et, par extension, de la réalité iconisée à laquelle il se confronte incessamment.

Iconic photographs possess broad social and symbolic significance, are widely replicated over time and circulated across media platforms, and fuel public discussion. In an era of digital memes, they have become generative resources for memetic performances that not only can draw on these images’ historic authority but can also undermine it. Based on the analysis of the ‘Accidental Napalm’ memes, our research leads to a fourfold taxonomy, from memes that expand or expound the meaning of the original picture to those that narrow and potentially destroy its significance. Assessing Hariman and Lucaites’ contention that appropriations of iconic images enhance civic engagement and public culture, we argue that some memes may actually dissolve the original significance of iconic photographs and potentially degrade, rather than enhance, public culture.

The discussions about the „turnaround in energy policy“ and „sustainability“ mainly revolve around technical and economic considerations, as well as the question of feasibility and acceptance of a political implementation of consensual or at least majority-capable insights, in this regard. However, according to this thesis, it seems that day-to-day anchoring of sustainable lifestyles requires above all a „sustainability culture“, to serve as the link between climate change prevention and an aesthetically-oriented optionalisation of lifestyles. Therefore, the decision on a sustainable lifestyle would mean, in the context of culture, making and communicating on an aesthetic choice that individually answers the question: what will the "good life“ look like in the face of climate change?

Visualization is an imperative of our time. Pictures are facts of perception. Their immediacy, suggestiveness, and verisimilitude are linked to our self-perception. Pictures are also intermediately encoded, simultaneously present structures of signs, whose cultural context is variable​ and currently dependent. The particular entanglement of the immediacy of our perception with the symbolic function distinguishes pictures and causes their particular effectiveness. Media publicity is largely defined by pictures as iconic narratives which moderate the self-perception of our society. They shape examples and exemplify concepts, which then define lifestyles and social practices. As epistemic objects, with a peculiar position between perception and imagination, pictures render future present.

Kant posits the schema as a hybrid bridging the generality of pure concepts and the particularity of sensible intuitions. However, I argue that countenancing such schemata leads to a third-man regress. Siding with those who think that the midway posit of the Critique of Pure Reason's schematism section is untenable, my diagnosis is that Kant's transcendental inquiry goes awry because it attempts to analyze a form/matter union that is primitive. I therefore sketch a nonrepresentational stance aimed at respecting this primitivity.

It. Sguardo; Fr. Regard; Germ. Blick; Span. Mirada. Theories of the gaze, especially since the 1970s and 80s, have enjoyed particular fortune in three main fields of knowledge: art history, psychoanalysis (starting from Lacan in particular) and reflections on the relationship between the gaze and alterity, in their various declinations within the fields of gender studies, feminist studies and postcolonial studies (Elkins 2010; Pinotti, Somaini 2016). Moreover, studies of the gaze have become closely linked to the birth and development of the Visual culture studies. Aside from the different instruments and methods of research and in the absence of a unitary definition of the concept, the notion of the gaze, as opposed to the simple physiological and natural exercise of the eye, defines a historical, cultural and political mode of observation and reception of images by active observing subjects.

Recensioni di G. Bataille/A. Breton: „Contre-Attaque“. Union de lutte des intellectuels révolutionnaires, Ypsilon, Paris 2013; S. Falasca-Zamponi, Rethinking the Political: The Sacred, Aesthetic Politics, and the Collège de Sociologie, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston, 2011.
In "Lendemains, Bd. 40, Nr. 157 (2015), pp. 136-141.

Mostramos como as noções de “representação” e “precessão”, bem como o debate que elas ensejam, permitem restaurar a originalidade e atualidade da filosofia de Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Para tanto, após uma exposição a respeito daquilo que constitui a denominada virada icônica" ou "pictórica", atinente ao pensamento filosófico, sociológico e estético das últimas décadas e promulgada primeiramente por W. J. T. Mitchell e G. Boehm no início dos anos 1990, é possível reconstruir de maneira rigorosa o sentido deste redescobrimento e retorno à imagem. Trata-se, após tal contextualização, de desenvolver a hipótese de que uma ideia basilar da imagem já se faz presente em algumas das teses do fenomenólogo francês, na medida em que ele constrói uma teoria da
visão não tributária do paradigma representacionista clássico, mas pensa a realidade da imagem por si mesma. É manifesto, a partir de então, que o visível e a visão não são feitos de coisas ou se prestam à coisas, das quais sua figuração seria um aspecto secundário - antes, a visibilidade ou dimensão imagética fundamental do mundo é compreendida como um  fazer ver, e sua compreensão como um  pensamento segundo a imagem, em que não há uma significação ou texto pré estabelecido a respeito do qual a imagem seria a tradução
mais ou menos perfeita. Vincular Merleau-Ponty à iconic turn ou entrever o germe desta nos seus escritos, não configura então um diagnóstico de época, mediante o qual constatamos que nossa vida está cada vez mais assolada por imagens e pelo consumo destas  -  na esteira de uma "era da iconofagia" tal como aponta Baitello (2005)  -, mas assumir que toda experiência possui a característica e a marca da iconicidade; logo, trata-se de proceder a um verdadeiro  primado da imagem. Propusemos, em nossa pesquisa, o diálogo entre a fenomenologia e as novas investigações em torno do estatuto da imagem, uma vez que mais aquém das categorias propostas nas últimas duas décadas a fim de dar conta desta virada, tais como a de "sintomatologia" da imagem (ALLOA, 2010), seu aspecto "subjuntivo" e "não-indicial" (GAMBONI, 2004) e a reabilitação e generalização
dos conceitos específicos da estética para a totalidade de nossa experiencia (JAMESON, 1995), cremos encontrar já na ideia de "precessão" uma chave para pensar de forma positiva
a imagem. Se a experiência da imagem não é a de um encontro – que pressupõe o abismo – entre signo e significação, mas de um ver-com, de um ver-mediante a imagem, tal como fica claros nos escritos merleau-pontianos, a imagem me olha e pensa por mim tanto
quanto eu a observo. Nesse sentido ela promove uma verdadeira abertura e revelação do mundo, ela é meio de acesso  a este e não sua duplicação  -  de modo que há uma "textura imaginária" (ou imagética) do real (MERLEAU-PONTY, 1960). Assim, segue-se nossa hipótese: está anunciada já em Merleau-Ponty a derrocada da subsequente virada
linguística (linguistic turn;  RORTY, 1967) dos anos 1960, na medida em que compreendemos ali o germe da virada icônica (iconic turn) que viria a ser explicitamente elaborada nos anos 1990? Cremos verificar tal hipótese com o auxílio do conceito de precessão e através da análise de um exemplo profícuo quanto a isso, presente em O olho e o espírito, sobre como o real enquanto tecido imagético e consagrado à visibilidade promove uma "frequentação", anterior à linguagem propriamente dita, entre os entes do mundo; trata-se do reflexo dos objetos na superfície de uma piscina, que não os representa
mas faz vê-los de uma outra maneira que diretamente, mediante a essência viva e imagética da  água, do mesmo modo que nossa imagem especular não se reduz à explicação que a física e a ótica lhe fornecem, mas antes dizem algo a respeito deste aspecto fundamental de nossa experiência que é "ver algo". É isso que significa ver-com as
imagens, em regime de precessão, e não ver "apesar" delas; apesar da água, do espelho, do ecrã etc. A imagem me assombra e sou possuído por ela mais do que a possuo como se a contempla-se à distância, por meio do véu da representação. Há uma “autoridade” da imagem que é, na verdade, sua condição de precessão – o fato dela “preceder a si mesma” e apresentar, junto da figuração, sua chave de leitura própria; por conseguinte, rompe-se com o representacionismo em direção a uma nova ontologia da imagem.

Iconic photographs possess broad social and symbolic significance, are widely replicated over time and circulated across media platforms, and fuel public discussion. In an era of digital memes, they have become generative resources for memetic performances that not only can draw on these images’ historic authority but can also undermine it. Based on the analysis of the ‘Accidental Napalm’ memes, our research leads to a fourfold taxonomy, from memes that expand or expound the meaning of the original picture to those that narrow and potentially destroy its significance. Assessing Hariman and Lucaites’ contention that appropriations of iconic images enhance civic engagement and public culture, we argue that some memes may actually dissolve the original significance of iconic photographs and potentially degrade, rather than enhance, public culture.

Icons constantly punctuate social life and yet sociology has thematized cultural iconicity only very recently. This article describes what cultural sociology can gain by incorporating iconicity into the catalogue of its explanatory notions. Specifically, it discusses several new prominent iconological frameworks, or modes of seeing culture, and how they alter our understanding of meaning-making, both in social life and social science.

The historical contexts of the sciences can arise from a few strategic choices of the phenomenal premises, best illustrated in the modern history of the science of mechanics. Scientists of mechanics tended to prioritize certain structural intuitions as axiomatic notions, which were gradually established as historical paradigms. A striking example of this would be the Newtonian explanation of the tidal phenomenon, which has been bequeathed since the early modern period and prevails to date. However, the axiomatic-structural intuitions in the science of mechanics as well as in other mathematical sciences are basically pictorial intuitions; they necessarily emerge in pictorial representations. The following treatise is an attempt to demonstrate how scientific images were derived from certain preferred or prioritized structural intuitions of mechanical phenomena – such as Gravitation and Tides – and how they paradigmatically established the axiomatic foundations of these phenomena and avouched them historically.

"Iconic Power is a collection of original articles that explores social aspects of the phenomenon of icon. Having experienced the benefits and realized the limitations of so called "linguistic turn," sociology has recently acknowledged a need to further expand its horizons. "Visual sociology" is emerging as a separate field and prominent scholars announce the coming of "the pictorial turn." The methods and themes taken up in these studies respond to this shift in social scientific interest. Each contribution to this book carefully tests the analytic purchase and empirical implications of iconicity. If we can succeed in understanding the iconic, we should be able to know our culture much better.

As the Australian sociologist of art Eduardo de la Fuente pointed out, "Iconic Power" is "the strongest theoretical statement to yet come out of the 'strong program' in cultural sociology." He emphasized the importance of 'iconicity' as the concept that more than 'ritual' or even 'performance' promises to break free of economistic, linguistic, and other kinds of reductionisms that plague the cultural sciences. The British cultural sociologist David Inglis praised the book's wide empirical coverage. For these reasons, "Iconic Power" can serve as a guide on how to approach the tremendous social efficacy of the visual and other non-discursive symbols. "

Iconic photographs possess broad social and symbolic significance, are widely replicated over time and circulated across media platforms, and fuel public discussion. In an era of digital memes, they have become generative resources for memetic performances that not only can draw on these images’ historic authority but can also undermine it. Based on the analysis of the ‘Accidental Napalm’ memes, our research leads to a fourfold taxonomy, from memes that expand or expound the meaning of the original picture to those that narrow and potentially destroy its significance. Assessing Hariman and Lucaites’ contention that appropriations of iconic images enhance civic engagement and public culture, we argue that some memes may actually dissolve the original significance of iconic photographs and potentially degrade, rather than enhance, public culture.

I develop a theory of learning grounded in Charles Peirce’s semiotics. This endeavour comes in the context of the iconic (phenomenological) turn in semiotics, which resulted in a Peircean renaissance, and of the growing semiotic trend in education.
Peirce’s semiotics offers insights into the phenomenon of learning and contains an implicit philosophy of education. The application of Peirce’s phenomenological categories to education reveals the semiosic character of education. Learning, education, and research constitute a triad, having the structure of a sign (phenomenon of signification). As such, they are correspondingly governed by Peirce’s three criteria of evolution: chance, necessity, and love. Therefore, Peirce’s theory of education can only be understood in the context of his theory of evolution.
I develop three central arguments: (1) that according to Peirce’s taxonomy of signs, learning is the evolution of signification from the Icon sign type to the Argument sign type, (2) that learning is the Universe’s way of discovering itself through life forms, thus being both an evolutionary factor and an explanation for the emergence of life and (3) that learning can only be fulfilled in self-denying love for the other. Using Peirce’s taxonomy of signs I analyse the student/teacher relation, explaining how the passage from Icon to Argument proceeds and how learning is fulfilled in self-denying love.

Bislang wurden in der historischen Diskursanalyse Fragen zur Funktion von Bildern in Diskursen noch wenig berücksichtigt. Die Beiträge des vorliegenden Bandes nehmen sich dieser Thematik an und zeigen, dass auch Bilder die Möglichkeitsbedingungen des Sag- und Denkbaren bestimmen. Sie widmen sich Zeichnungen, Skizzen, Drucken, Gemälden, Fotos und Diagrammen und analysieren deren mannigfältige Interaktionen mit (verbalen) Texten. Die Autoren und Autorinnen bewegen sich im weiten Rahmen der historischen Diskursanalyse, verfolgen aber auch semiologisch und praxeologisch orientierte Perspektiven. Vielfach arbeiten sie einer Mediengeschichte der Bild-Text-Kommunikation zu. Sie zeigen exemplarisch, was eine um Bilder bemühte historische Diskursanalyse leisten kann – für die Diskursanalyse selbst wie für ein Verständnis der Kommunikation mit Bildern. Gegenüber Wissenschaften, die auf Praktiken der aktuellen Bildverwendung fokussieren, kann der Blick in die Vergangenheit die Kontingenz von Regelmäßigkeiten aufzeigen und so Kurzschlüsse auf anthropologische Konstanten unterlaufen.