Capturing Shadows: On Photography, Causation, and Absences

Australasian Journal of Philosophy 95 (2):256-269 (2017)
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Abstract

Many photographs seem to be images of absences: for instance, a photograph of a shadow seems to be an image of an absence, as shadows are plausibly thought of as being absences of light. Absence photography is puzzling, however, as, first, it is a common idea that photographs can only be images of things that have caused them, and, second, it is unclear whether absences can cause anything. In this paper, I look at various ways to unravel the puzzle. Along the way, I also hope to cast some light on the idea that photography is a causal medium.

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Mikael Pettersson
Lingnan University

Citations of this work

Aesthetic Absence and Interpretation.David Fenner - forthcoming - Estetika: The European Journal of Aesthetics 60 (2):162-175.

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References found in this work

Causation.David Lewis - 1973 - Journal of Philosophy 70 (17):556-567.
Causation as influence.David Lewis - 2000 - Journal of Philosophy 97 (4):182-197.
Two concepts of causation.Ned Hall - 2004 - In John Collins, Ned Hall & Laurie Paul (eds.), Causation and Counterfactuals. MIT Press. pp. 225-276.
Picture, Image and Experience: A Philosophical Inquiry.Robert Hopkins - 1998 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
Seeing dark things: the philosophy of shadows.Roy A. Sorensen - 2008 - New York: Oxford University Press.

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