Abstrakt
In my presentation I intend to sketch out the main idea of part III of my dissertation. In Nishida's framework, it's possible to assert that the photographer is a "historical subject" (Nishida 2003: 164), embedded in a "historical world" (ibid.: 148).
Furthermore, according to Nishida, the historical world moves from that which is made to that which is making. This means that - speaking with Nishida - every photo is a "poiesis" - a creative act on the part of the photographer - yet this very act can only take place "on the basis of the historical world" (Nishida 1990b: 122).
Being embedded in such a more general dynamic movement (of the historical world), a photographer is engaged in "acting intuition" [kôi-teki chokkan] (Nishida 2003: 149). She acts upon the seen, thereby producing images, making them 'seen' by others.
The experience of photographing also has a unique temporal structure that I intend to describe with Nishida's theory of time. The self-determination of the historical world temporally means self-determination of the "eternal now" [eien no ima] (Nishida 1990a: 108).
Every photo is made in a particular moment that is being "frozen" and captured in the two-dimensional space of the photographic image. Yet, that which is photographed necessarily springs from a "limitless past" and has a potential to reach viewers in an open and "limitless future" (ibid.).
Selected bibliography: - Nishida, K. (1990a): "Selbstidentität und Kontinuität der Welt", in: Die Philosophie der Kyôto-Schule. Texte und Einführung, München, 54-118. - (1990b): "Das künstlerische Schaffen als Gestaltungsakt der Geschichte", in: Same., München, 119-137. - (2003): "L'auto-identité absolument contradictoire", in : L'Éveil a soi, Paris, 145-192. - Woo-Sung, H. (1990): "The Philosophy of history in the 'later' Nishida: A Philosophic turn", in: Philosophy East & West 40/3, 343-374, Honolulu.