New Media and Philosophy

Catalog description

This course surveys and considers some of the most crucial thinking about media from the past 100 years. It finds its roots in the early assessments of radio, photography, cinema, and television, which were also “new” media at one time, while proceeding to go into some depth with contemporary theories of the Internet, and digitally-based technologies like virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, and 'Metaverse'. Students are encouraged to see the connections between how many of these media are perceived, and consider with some sophistication the social and political impacts they have. Although many of the primary readings are from philosophers of media, we will examine a wide range of material in navigating and investigating the issues of the course (social media, cinema, film criticism, journalism, video and VR art installations).