Peter Sloterdijk: Images in Philosophical Discourse

Abstract

The article explores the ways in which philosophical concepts are represented through visual imagery and examines the relationship between text and image within philosophical discourse. The study aims to demonstrate how visual ele­ments contribute to the transmission of philosophical ideas and how a harmonious coexistence of text and image can be achieved in philosophical works. The author analyzes Susanne Langer’s theory, as presented in her work Philosophy in a New Key, which highlights the potential conflict between text and image due to their differing modes of expression: the linear structure of text versus the holistic na­ture of visual perception. The essay also considers Michel Foucault’s This Is Not a Pipe, where the French philosopher, referencing the work of the painter Paul Klee, illustrates the possibility of overcoming this conflict: in Klee’s compositions, signs and figures coexist in a homogeneous space without forming hierarchical relations. Furthermore, the article examines Andrew Pickering’s New Ontologies, demonstrating how images can serve as mediators between ideal philosophical concepts and the material world. Here, the image functions as a conduit through which the ideal attains corporeal boundaries – a medium that links the conceptual and the empirical. The latter part of the article is devoted to the second volume of Peter Sloterdijk’s Spheres trilogy, Globes, where text and images are subtly in­tegrated into a unified conceptual network. In this way, the study reveals how philosophical concepts can be conveyed through images and explores various strategies for resolving the tension between textual and visual representations.