Project the aim of which is to demonstrate the current relevance of the German philosopher Ernst Cassirer's thinking to aesthetics, to cultural studies, to the philosophy of technology as well as to the theory of science. The project centers on Cassirer's concept of technology, his philosophy of symbolic forms as well as his approach to myth and politics.

Of key interest to the project is Cassirer's highly original and thought-provoking essay "Form und Technik" (1930), which is translated by this project into Norwegian and English for the first time.

The project is to result in two edited volumes, one in Norwegian (2006) and one in English (in preparation). Norwegian 2006 volume: [Cover art] [Table of cotents] [Back cover text]

Learn more about Ernst Cassirer here.

□ Project affiliation: Collaboration with Ingvild Folkvord (NTNU)

□ International contact: John Michael Krois (Humboldt University)

□ Activities and Publications:

c. 2011 Form and Technics: Reading Ernst Cassirer from the Present. Edited volime (in preparation).
Editors: Aud Sissel Hoel (NTNU) and Ingvild Folkvord (NTNU).
Contributors: John Michael Krois (Humboldt University), Jean Lassègue (Ecole Polytechnique), Frederik Stjernfelt (University of Aarhus), Frederik Tygstrup & Isak Winkel Holm (Københavns Universitet), Hans Ruin (Södertörns högskola), Mats Rosengren (Södertörn högskola), Dennis M. Weiss (York College of Pennsylvania), Marion Lauschke (Humboldt University), Ingvild Folkvord (NTNU), and Aud Sissel Hoel (NTNU).

c. 2011 "Technics of Thinking." Article.
Forthcoming in: Form and Technology: Reading Ernst Cassirer from the Present.
Edited by Aud Sissel Hoel and Ingvild Folkvord.

2010 "Technics of thinking." Guest lecture.
Centre of Semiotics, Aarhus University, Arrhus, December 10.


2010 “Kant, Cassirer, and the Privilege of Mathematics." Paper.
Fourth workshop on Ernst Cassirer, international seminar, Nordeuropa-Institut, Humboldt University, Berlin, February 18-19.

2009 “Technics of Thinking: Cassirer’s Differential Approach to Cognition." Paper.
PerSemSoc November Symposium, Paris, November 16-17.


2009 “Differential Phenomenology: On the Cognitive and Theoretical Import of Technology." Paper.
2009 Annual Conference, Society for Phenomenology and the Human Sciences, Arlington, VA, October 29-31.


2009 “Cassirer as Differential Thinker." Paper.
Third workshop on Ernst Cassirer, international seminar, Nordeuropa-Institut, Humboldt University, Berlin, February, 12-13.

2008 Form and Technics, Berlin Workshop. Workshop.
Workshop on Cassirer's essay "Form und Technik" (1930) at the Institute of Northern Europe, Humboldt University, Berlin, February 21-22. Organizers: Aud Sissel Hoel (NTNU) and Ingvild Folkvord (NTNU).
Participants: John Michael Krois (Humboldt University), Jean Lassègue (Ecole Polytechnique), Steve Lofts (King’s
University College), Frederik Stjernfelt (University of Aarhus), Tord Larsen (Norwegian University of Science and
Technology), Ingvild Folkvord (NTNU), and Aud Sissel Hoel (NTNU). Funding: Faculty of Arts, NTNU.


2008 ”Aesthetic Technologies: A Nonrepresentational Approach to Symbolic Mediation.” Paper.
Form and Technics, Berlin Workshop, Institute of Northern Europe, Humboldt University, Berlin, February 21-22.

2006 Form and Technics: Reading Ernst Cassirer from the Present. Conference.
Internaternational conference on Cassirer at NTNU, Trondheim, December 7-8. Organizers: Aud Sissel Hoel (NTNU) and Ingvild Folkvord (NTNU).
Key note speakers: John Michael Krois (Humboldt University) and Michael Friedman (Stanford University).
Other speakers: Steve Lofts (King’s University College), Frederik Stjernfelt (University of Aarhus), Johannes
Rohbeck (Dresden University of Technology), Ingmar Meland (Telemark University College), Ståle Finke (NTNU),
Ingvild Folkvord (NTNU), and Aud Sissel Hoel (NTNU).
Funding: Society for the Philosophy of Science, Faculty of Arts, Department of Art and Media Studies, Department of Modern Foreign Languages (all at NTNU), and Research Council of Norway.

2006 “Thinking ’Difference’ Differently: Cassirer’s Theory of Mediation.” Paper.
Form and Technics: Reading Ernst Cassirer from the Present, international conference, NTNU, Trondheim,
December 7-8.

2006 Ernst Cassirer: Form og teknikk – utvalgte tekster (Oslo: Cappelen). Edited book.
Five texts by Cassirer translated into Norwegian. Edited by Ingvild Folkvord (NTNU) and Aud Sissel Hoel (NTNU). Translation by Folkvord, introduction by Hoel.


2006 “Innledning.” Article, 40 pages.
In: Ernst Cassirer: Form og teknikk – utvalgte tekster (Oslo: Cappelen).

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The project investigates instrumental uses of photography both theoretically, historically, and analytically. In particular, it focuses on disciplinary and definitional uses of photography. Theoretically, the aim is to establish a framework that can account for the formative powers of photography.

Research Material: Norwegian Mug Shots of Criminals and Prostitutes, Composite photographs, portraits of "Norwegian types" taken by physical anthropologists, portraits of Norwegians taken by the Nazi photographer Erna Lendvai-Dircksen.

The project forms part of the national research project Photography in Culture, headed by Peter Larsen (University of Bergen).

Doctoral project the aim of which is to establish a theoretical framework that can give a positive account of the formative power of images. The first part of the dissertation consists of close readings of a series of representational theories of images, including semiological and cognitive approaches. Semiology and cognitivism turn out to have a great many conceptual presuppositions in common and thus to be more closely connected conceptually than is usually acknowledged. Representational approaches such as semiology and cognitivism are criticised for being based on "identity thinking," that is, a static and at bottom Platonic conception of knowledge formation that conceives of "truth" in terms of coincidence. Thus, "true" mediation is non-formative and unproductive. Even poststructuralist and "antiessentialist" approaches that acknowledge the formative powers of material media are shown to fall under the spell of representationalism by being negatively determined by it: The concepts of "essence" and "identity" are rejected on the terms set up by identity thinking: Identity is impossible because true identity in terms of coincidence is impossible. The metaphysics of identity and presence, then, is inverted into the opposite: A metaphysics of difference and absence. The positive insight into the productive powers of material media, then, ends up as a tragic insight into the impossibility of knowledge, meaning, and communication. Relativism and scepticism follows.

The second part proceeds to develop an alternative, nonrepresentational conception of symbolic mediation and knowledge formation. I start out by discussing Immanuel Kant's concepts of productive imagination and schematism and move on to discuss Ernst Cassirer's dynamic approach to symbolic mediation (the philosophy of symbolic forms) and Maurice Merleau-Ponty's doctrine of embodiment. Finally, I undertake a critical close reading of Merleau-Ponty's texts on painting, in which I disclose several aesthetic approaches - some of which points in the direction of a nonrepresentational and dynamic conception of symbolic mediation. In his aesthetics on the whole, however, Merleau-Ponty tends to privilege some forms of expression for being more "authentic," close, and more true to lived experience than others. In conclusion I call attention to the ways that Merleau-Ponty's doctrine of embodied perception opens the way for other aesthetic approaches than some of those put forth by Merleau-Ponty himself, and to the way that an interfusion of insights from Merleau-Ponty and Cassirer might prove fruitful when it comes to establishing a nonrepresentational conception of symbolic mediation and knowledge formation.

[Cover art] [Table of Contents]

□ Project affiliation: Individual dissertation project.

□ Activities and Publications:

2005 Fremstilling og teknikk: Om bildet som formativt medium. Doctoral dissertation, 338 pages.
Norwegian University of Science and Technology. ISBN 82-471-7053-1.

2004 “Synet som bilde: Om representasjonalismens vedvarende innflytelse på visualitetsdiskursen.” Article, 19 pages.
In: A. B. Maurseth and E. Østerud (Eds.): Estetiske teknologier, Vol. II. Oslo: Scandinavian Academic Press. ISBN 82-304-0003-2.

2003 “Rethinking the Crisis of Perception, Visuality, and the Image.” Paper.
Modes of Seeing, international conference organized by the project Aesthetic Technologies, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Trondheim, Norway, November 6-8.
Key notes: Mieke Bal (University of Amsterdam) and Martin Zerlang (University of Copenhagen).

2002 “Cassirer’s Dynamic Conception of Form.” Article, 23 pages.
In: G. Foss and E. Kasa (Eds.): Forms of Knowledge and Sensibility: Ernst Cassirer and the Human Sciences. Oslo: Norwegian Academic Press.

2001 ”Ontologisk nøytralitet: Husserl om fenomenologien som første filosofi.” Article, 30 pages.
Parabel: Tidsskrift for filosofi og vitenskapsteori, Vol. IV, nr. 2.

2001 “Technologies of Depiction: Rethinking Photography and the Rationalization of Sight.” Paper.
Storage Media, Discourse Networks and Aesthetic Representation, international conference organized by the Faulty of Arts,
Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Trondheim, Norway, November 8-10.
Key notes: Friederich Kittler (Humboldt University) and Bernard Stiegler (Institut National de l'Audiovisuel).

1999 ”Vitenskapen som en måte å (be)gripe verden på.” Article, 26 pages.
Parabel: Tidsskrift for filosofi og vitenskapsteori, Vol. III, nr. 1.

1999 “Tenkende bilder.” Paper.
Teksten i bildet – bildet i teksten, research course organized by the Faculty of Arts, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Røros, Norway, November 21-24.

1999 “Fotografiet som symbolsk form.” Paper.
Forms of Knowledge and Sensibility: Ernst Cassirer and the Human Sciences, international conference organized by the interdisciplinary project The Gaze, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Trondheim, Norway,
February 25-26.

1998 “Blocks of Sensation in Moving Images.” Paper.
Applied Phenomenology, international research course, University of Copenhagen. Copenhagen, Denmark, November 16-20. Organizers: Frederik Stjernfelt and Dan Zahavi (both at the University of Copenhagen).

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