ABOUT

Prof. Gabriel Greenberg [[email protected]]
Philosophy 194G​​: Capstone Seminar (Stanford)
When: Thurs 1:30-4:20, Spring 2023
Where: Bldg 200-017
Office hours: Fri 2-3 pm by zoom. In person by appt.

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THEME

This seminar examines the meaning of visual signs, through the lens of philosophy and cognitive science. In the first half, we'll focus on the meanings of pictures and maps, and their relationship to perception, geometry, knowledge, truth, and power. In the second half, we'll explore the ways that pictures are put together in comics and film to form visual narratives, with an emphasis on viewpoint, temporal order, character, and coherence.

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REQUIREMENTS

Requirements
The course requirements are as follows.

• 1-2 example presentations:  on one or two weeks (TBD) bring in an example image to share with the class that is related to the reading.
• Project presentation 1: (~10 minutes) Introduce project question and illustrative examples.
• Project presentation 2: (~20 minutes) Outline project thesis, examples, and analysis.
• Final project: in-depth exploration of a topic in visual representation.  20 page research paper or equivalent; video essays, comics, other alternative media welcome.
• Weekly questions: each week prepare 2-3 questions about the reading to share with the class.
  
  
• Final paper deadline: Wed June 14, 7AM.  ​No extensions for seniors!
  

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SYLLABUS

Subject to revision!  Please refresh regularly.
Readings marked with a * will be the focus of discussion in class.

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1. Visual Signs
​Introduction and course design.
4/6

No reading

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2. Pictures, perception, and geometry
4/13

Handout
Case study: Alain, Gabe

Reading:

• *Willats 1997 Art and Representation, "Introduction"
• Greenberg 2021 "Geometry of Pictorial Space" (pages 1-26, *Section 2)

Recommended:

• ​Gibson 1960 "Pictures, perspective, and perception"
• Wollheim 1984 "Painting as an art"
• Willats 1997 Art and Representation

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3. Pictures and truth
4/20
​
Handout

Reading:​​

• *Noth 1995 "Can pictures lie?"
• Fodor 2008 "Preconceptual Representation" (pages 169-182, *6.3-6.6)

Recommended:

•  García-Carpintero 2023 "Lying vs. Misleading, with Language and Pictures: The Adverbial Account"

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4. Pictorial content
4/27

Handout
​Case study: Matt

Reading:​​

• *Goodman 1968 Languages of Art, "Reality remade"
• Greenberg 2018 "Content and target in pictorial representation" (Section 1, pages 866-875) ​

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​5. Images, ideology, and power
5/4

​Handout
Case study: Alain

Reading:​​

• *Harley 1988 "Maps, knowledge, and Power"
• Berger 1972 Ways of Seeing, Chapter 5 (on property and painting)

Recommended: ​​

• The other chapters from Berger 1972 (including purely visual essays, 2,4, and 6!).​

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6. AI Art and philosophy
5/11

Handout
​Case study: Sam, Kam

Reading:​

• *"Text-to-image generation explained" (Google Research on YouTube)
• *"The text-to-image revolution, explained" (Vox on YouTube)
• *"Is AI Stealing from Artists?" (New Yorker) 

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7. Photography and knowledge
5/18

Handout
​Case study: Owen

Reading:

•  Walton 1984 "Transparent Pictures"

​​Recommended:

• Cohen and Meskin 2004 "On the Epistemic Value of Photographs"
• Abell 2010 "The Epistemic Value of Photographs"

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8. Comics as discourse
5/25

​Case study: Matt

Reading:

• McCloud 1993 Understanding Comics
  • ​"The Vocabulary of Comics"
  • *"Blood in the Gutter"
  • *"Time Frames"

​Recommended:

• Hobbs 1990 "Literature and Cognition"

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9. Space and time in film
6/1

Case study: Owen

Reading:

• *Cumming, Greenberg, and Kelly 2017 "Conventions of Viewpoint Coherence in Film" [Sections 1-5]
• *Cumming, Greenberg, and Kelly 2021 "Temporal Continuity" [video] 

​Recommended:

• Leff "Conventions of Viewpoint Coherence in Film" [video]
• Stork 2011 "Chaos Cinema" Part 1, Part 2 [video]

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10. New visual media
New date and time:
Tuesday 6/6, 2:30-5:30
New location: TBA

Case study: Sam, Kam

Reading:

•  Nguyen 2020 "Games: Agency as Art" (short selection)

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Final paper deadline: Wed June 14, 7AM.

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