Pictures and Images. Philosophical Reflections - ASZFS0077

• Title: Pictures and Images. Philosophical Reflections
• Form of teaching: lecture
• Guaranteed by: Institute of Philosophy and Religious Studies (21-UFAR)
• Faculty: Faculty of Arts
• Actual: from 2025 to 2025
• Duration in semesters: 1
• Semester: summer
• Points: 0
• E-Credits: 3
• Examination process: summer s.:
• Hours per week, examination: summer s.:2/0, C [HT]
• Capacity: unlimited / unknown (180)
• Maximum number of enrolled students: 180
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Additional information: https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=18798
• Repeated enrollment: 2 / 2 / 2 / 2
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment
• Guarantor: doc. Daniele De Santis, Dott. Ric.
• Teacher(s): doc. Daniele De Santis, Dott. Ric.

Annotation

IMPORTANT: THERE WILL BE NO CLASS ON WEDNESDAY 18. OUR FIRST CLASS WILL TAKE PLACE DIRECTLY DURING THE SECOND WEEK, ON WEDNESDAY 25.

LS/SS 2026
Charles University
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
(Philosophy + Non-Philosophy Majors + Erasmus students)

Daniele De Santis, Ph. D.



Office hours: Wednesday 14:15-15:15
Email: [e-mail]



Lectures: Wednesday 15:50

Room: P131


1. General Description and Aims of the Module

There is no doubt that the ontological status of what we refer to as “image” has been haunting philosophy for centuries, if not even since the very beginning of Western thought. By the same token, the structure of a “painting,” of the way in which it is supposed to reveal and disclose something to the observer testifies to a quite specific form of experience of the world. The present module’s aim is to analyze these two questions from the standpoint of a quite specific 20th century philosophical tradition, namely, phenomenology. The course will pursue a double ambition. On the one had, it will try to shed light of what it means to experience an email, or, better: it will try to clarify what an image is based upon our conscious experience of it. On the other hand, and based on the central concept of phenomenology, namely, “phenomenon,” our goal will to be verify in what sense and to what extent phenomenology’s stance on what a painting is can shed light on the notion itself of phenomenon, and vice versa (as is the case, for example, with Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty and Michel Henry).

Last update: Mokrejšová Eva, Mgr. (15.06.2026)

Course completion requirements

Students will be evaluated based upon the following two distinct parameters:

 

(1) Participation (which includes yet is not limited to: attendance, in-class active participation). If you are absent, please ask your classmates for any assignments or key discussion materials missed. You can find the full schedule and plan for the semester on Moodle (link in SIS).

(2) An In-Class Written Exam (dates and more detailed information will be provided in due time)

Last update: De Santis Daniele, doc., Dott. Ric. (25.08.2026)

Literature

Moritz Geiger, The Significance of Art. A Phenomenological Approach to Aesthetics. University Press of America 1986

 

Moritz Geiger, An Introduction to Existential Philosophy. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 1943, 3 (3) (1943), pp. 255-278

 

Last update: De Santis Daniele, doc., Dott. Ric. (25.08.2026)