Vilém Flusser Book order

"Two years after his Vampyroteuthis Infernalis, the philosopher Vilém Flusser engaged in another thought experiment: a collection of twenty-two 'scenarios for the future' to be produced as computer-generated media, or technical images, that would break the imaginative logjam in conceiving the social, political, and economic future of the universe. What If? is not just an 'impossible journey' to which Flusser invites us in the first scenario; it functions also as a distorting mirror held up to humanity. Flusser's disarming scenarios of an Anthropocene fraught with nightmares offer new visions that range from the scientific to the fantastic to the playful and whimsical. Each essay reflects our present sense of understanding the world, considering the exploitation of nature and the dangers of global warming, overpopulation, and blind reliance on the promises of scientific knowledge and invention. What If? offers insight into the radical futures of a slipstream Anthropocene that have much to do with speculative fiction, with Flusser's concept of design as 'crafty' or slippery, and with art and the immense creative potential of failure versus reasonable, 'good' computing or calculability. As such, the book is both a warning and a nudge to imagine what we may yet become and be"-- Provided by publisher

Communicology is Vilém Flusser's first thesis on his concepts of technical images and technical imagination. In this foundational text he lays the groundwork for later work, offering a philosophical approach to communication as a phenomena that permeates every aspect of human existence. Clearly organized around questions such as "What is Communication?," "What are Codes?," and "What is Technical Imagination?," the work touches on theater, photography, film, television, and more. Originally written in 1978, but only posthumously published in German, the book is one of the clearest statements of Flusser's theory of communication as involving a variably mediated relation between humans and the world. Although Flusser was writing in the pre-digital 1970s, his work demonstrates a prescience that makes it of significant contemporary interest to scholars in visual culture, art history, media studies, and philosophy.

Language is reality -- Language shapes reality -- Language creates reality -- Language propagates reality -- The greater conversation

In 1963 Vilém Flusser presented a series of lectures at the Brazilian Institute of Philosophy (IBF) in São Paulo concerning the philosophy of language. The resulting ten essays would eventually be published in 1965 in the annual magazine of the Brazilian Institute of Technology and Aeronautics (ITA), and published here for the first time in book form. Flusser prepared each lecture as a response to the dialogs that followed the preceding lecture, thereby expanding and explicating his philosophy of language in an intense dialogical process. Despite the fact that the other side of the dialogue was not recorded, it becomes clear to the reader that the resulting discussions and polemics generated by the lectures progressively and profoundly changed Flusser's intended trajectory for the course. This kind of philosophy in fieri was in part the result of a group effort between all of those present, and subsequently synthesized by Flusser in every essay. As a result of this experience, Flusser adopted this dialogic method as an integral part of his future work.

Exploring the life and contributions of Vilém Flusser, the book highlights his journey from Prague to Brazil and then to France, where he made significant impacts in philosophy and journalism. His diverse body of work includes influential texts like The Shape of Things and Towards a Philosophy of Photography, showcasing his thoughts on media, communication, and migration. Flusser's writings reflect his unique perspective shaped by his experiences as a migrant and thinker, making him a significant figure in contemporary philosophy.

Is the alphabet about to disappear? How will we communicate without it? Are there any indications of new, emergent codes? Is human communication going through a mutation? These are only some of the provocative questions posed by Vilém Flusser in "Into Immaterial Culture." The four essays of this book were delivered as a series of lectures at the School of Communication and the Arts of the University of São Paulo in August of 1986, one year after the publication of the first Brazilian edition of "Towards a Philosophy of Photography," published as "A Filosofia da Caixa Preta." Through these four short essays, Flusser presents, in a nutshell, his communications theory. Their style is condensed, with a series of quick-fire sentences, which are best read in conjunction with his major works of the same period. However, for a fist time reader of his work, these four lectures are a good introduction to some of Flusser's polemic and provocative concepts regarding human communication, its future, and its ethical, aesthetic, and epistemological implications; a vision that is paradoxically utopian and dystopian.

"In The History of the Devil, Flusser frames the human situation from a pseudo-religious point of view. The phenomenal world, or reality in a general sense, is identified as the Devil, and that which transcends phenomena, or the philosophers' and theologians' reality, is identified as God. Referencing Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus in its structure, Flusser provocatively leads the reader through an existential exploration of nothingness as the bedrock of reality, where phenomenon and transcendence, Devil and God become fused and confused. So radically confused, in fact, that Flusser suggests we abandon the quotation marks from the terms Devil and God. At this moment of abysmal confusion, we must make the existential decisions that give direction to our lives"--Publisher's description

Throughout his career, Vilém Flusser kept the idea of gesture in mind: that people express their being in the world through a sweeping range of movements. He reconsiders familiar actions - from speaking and painting to smoking and telephoning - in terms of movement, opening a new perspective on the ways we share and preserve meaning. These essays, published here as a collection in English, reflect both an eclectic array of interests and a durable commitment to phenomenological thought.

In On Doubt, Vilém Flusser refines Martin Heidegger's famous declaration that "language is the dwelling of Being." For Flusser, "the word is the dwelling of being," because in fact, in the beginning, there was the word. On Doubt is a treatise on the human intellect, its relation to language, and the reality-forming discourses that subsequently emerge. For Flusser, the faith that the modern age places in Cartesian doubt plays a role similar to the one that faith in God played in previous eras--a faith that needs to be challenged. Descartes doubts the world through his proposition cogito ergo sum, but leaves doubt itself untouched as indubitable and imperious. His cogito ergo sum may have proved to the Western intellect that thoughts exist, but it did not prove the existence of that which thinks: one can eliminate thinking and yet continue being. Therefore, should we not doubt doubt itself? Should we not try to go beyond this last step of Cartesian doubt and look for a new faith? The twentieth century has seen many attempts to defeat Cartesian doubt, however, this doubt of doubt has instead generated a complete loss of faith, which the West experiences as existential nihilism. Hence, the emergent emptying of values that results from such extreme doubt. Everything loses its meaning. Can this climate be overcome? Will the West survive the modern age?

"This page intentionally left blank" is the first in a series of exhibitions and publications stemming from extensive research on writing titled "Possible content for 18 Pages." It draws upon Vilém Flusser's typewritten manuscript "The gesture of writing," which serves as a thematic and aesthetic foundation for exploring writing at the crossroads of linguistic, visual, physical, and spatial communication. Flusser outlines essential components for complete writing: a blank surface, a contrasting instrument, the alphabet, conventions for meaning, orthography, grammar, an idea to express, and a motive for expression. This work presents writing as a culturally embedded gesture, integrating artistic, literary, curatorial, and editorial practices. Published in conjunction with the exhibition at Akbank Art Center, Istanbul (March 19 - May 17, 2014), it includes Flusser's manuscript, exhibition documentation, installation views, and a curatorial statement. Additionally, Kenneth Goldsmith contextualizes the exhibition within contemporary media theory, net culture, and literature, while participating visual artists contribute unique works that further explore the exhibition's themes.