Bergson and the Metaphysics of Media

What is a medium? Why is there always a middle? Can media produce 'immediacy'? Henri Bergson recognized mediation as the central philosophical problem of modernity. This book traces his influence on the 'media philosophies' of Gilles Deleuze, Marshall McLuhan, Walter Benjamin and Michel Serres.

Autorentext
Stephen Crocker is Associate Professor of Sociology at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. He has published widely on the philosophy of time and the theory of media. His work has appeared in, among other places, Continental Philosophy Review, Deleuze Studies, Philosophy Today and numerous anthologies.

Klappentext

What is a medium? Why is there always a middle? Can media produce 'immediacy'? Henri Bergson recognized mediation as the central philosophical problem of modernity. This book traces his influence on the 'media philosophies' of Gilles Deleuze, Marshall McLuhan, Walter Benjamin and Michel Serres.

Inhalt
Introduction Any Moment Whatever: Elaborating Bergson's Ideas PART I: THE MEDIUM AS MEANS AND OBSTACLE 1. Metaphysical Media: The Discreet and the Continuous in Deleuze and McLuhan 2. One or Many Planes: The Evolution of Intervals in Painting and Film 3. Sounds Complicated: Audition and `Three Dimensional Thought' 4. Noise is the Presence of the Medium PART II: KILLING TIME: SYNCHRONY AND DIACHRONY 5. Instrumental Reason and the War on Intervals 6. Distracted and Contemplative Time 7. Empty, Homogenous Time/Any Moment Whatever PART III: MAN FALLS DOWN: UNANSWERABLE SITUATIONS 8. Compromise Formations: Bergson's Vitalism 9. Unanswerable Situations 10. Interrupted Gestures Conclusion: On Failure and Wonder Notes References Cited