Media philosophy

The philosophy of the media has been the subject of ongoing discussion at German-speaking academies, at least since Frank Hartmann in 2000 published a book on this topic. Over the past decade, the philosophy of the media has evolved into a field of discussion that is discussed across disciplinary boundaries ^[2] .

Although the philosophy of the media is designated as an interdisciplinary task, it is mainly considered as a subdiscipline of philosophy, and not research in the media ^[3] . Very specific to the German-speaking context, several scholars actively participated in discussions on the philosophy of the media. In addition to the publication of “Hartmann Medienphilosohie,” Mike Sandbot often advocated a pragmatic philosophy of the media ^{[4] [5]} .

Then in 2003, Stefan Münker , Alexander Rosler and Sandbot published an anthology, the essence of which was to clarify the term "philosophy of the media" ^[6] .

On the other hand, the philosopher Martin Cil succinctly perceived this as a “passing phenomenon” ^[7] , while the Italian sociologist Elena Esposito did not see a real need to create a field of media philosophy ^[8] .

Many still doubt the terms of the philosophy of the media, considering it as yet another disciplinary clinch, a tendency to discuss, and an academic fashion.

If we take a step back, we will see that the concept is at stake, according to which neither philosophy nor media research can circumvent philosophical thoughts about the media ^[9] .

This is especially important in the era of medialization (sometimes also described in terms of mediation) and ubiquiqitous digital media ^[10] . Although philosophical reflections on what we understand today as mass media are not new, they simply were not previously considered as a subject for studying the discipline of philosophy ^[11] .

The field of study of media philosophy are ^[12] :

• Methodological problems of studying media reality
• Physicality and Mediality
• The role of media in shaping the current picture of the world
• Postinformation society: the value of the fullness of experience
• Media as a condition of globalization
• Social Media Ecology
• The intellectual position in the media space
• The correlation of the language of visual representation and verbal language
• Visual image as the basis of media reality
• Analog and Digital Photography
• Theory of art in the era of mass media
• Computer games

There is no doubt that the media have a huge impact on our media culture societies. The media influence our perceptions and our knowledge, our memory, as well as our emotions. They create public spheres and public opinion, generate media realities ^[13] .

The media shape our socialization and our community. They transform economics, politics, science, religion and law. “What we know about our society and even about the world in which we live, we learn through the media” ^[9] .

Accordingly, the media have become the primary subject of interdisciplinary discourse in recent decades throughout the world. All developments in media philosophy have become the subject of scientific analysis, as well as part of media programs ^[4] .

However, there is still no established discipline entitled “media philosophy” ^[14] . On the contrary, different approaches to the philosophical analysis of media are heterogeneous and lack a solid theoretical foundation, as well as a disciplinary organization. Some scientists even believe that the media do not even fall within the competence of philosophers ^[11] .