The Philosophical Foundations of Photography as a Means of Communication

This book provides the first in-depth theory of how we communicate using photographs. Despite the ubiquitous use of photographs as a universal language in digital social media, a systematic understanding of photographic communication has remained elusive. The author draws upon recent literature in philosophy of photography, picture theory, theories of pictorial reference, and scholars dedicated to the intricate relationship between images and speech acts. This book provides the philosophical foundations for an ontology of photographic social practices, elucidating how these practices are constituted by rules, thus enabling comprehension of photographic communication in conventional and non-conventional contexts. By offering several significant contributions, including a meticulous analysis of the difference between the pictorial content of an image and the speech act performed by its contextualized use, it helps us understand the various types of rules governing photographic communication, and proposes a taxonomy of photographic speech acts, among others. This unique perspective makes the book important reading for our times and of great interest to scholars across various disciplines, including philosophy, photography, communication studies, media studies, and visual arts.