著者

圓井 義典 Yoshinori MARUI 東京工芸大学芸術学部写真学科 Department of Photography Faculty of Arts Tokyo Polytechnic University

雑誌

東京工芸大学芸術学部紀要 = Bulletin, Faculty of Arts, Tokyo Institute of Polytechnics

巻号頁・発行日

vol.23, pp.1-10, 2017

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This paper aims to clarify the meaning of “photography” using the theory of prehensions by Alfred North Whitehead. It could be said that “photography” was generalized and became a theoretical matter in the field of art theory or media theory in the 1960s. However, the goal of discussing photography in this context has not been achieved. Thus, the author attempts to reconsider “photography” on the basis of individual experience as a person who takes or views photographs. When a person expects to photograph an event, he or she considers two aspects: “subjects (that are photographed)” and “good opportunities (for the photo shoot)”. These aspects mean that the subject aims to prehend some data, as propositional feelings, with the datum “photography”. If a subject similarly prehends as the datum “a photo” from another datum, which may be prehended as “a pattern” on a paper or monitor, this datum is connected with the datum “photography” as a potentiality. Moreover, any datum felt by a subject is never primarily the same in the theory of prehensions. Although the technology of making still pictures has completely shifted from analog to digital, the datum “photography” continues to exist even today. Thus, it could be said that the datum “photography” comprises multiple discontinuous data – and not merely the experiences of technology – prehended as a single continuous datum by a subject.