Papers by Martin Lefebvre
Signata, 2013
De nombreux commentateurs ont déjà évoqué l'existence de points de contact, d'ai nités, voire de ... more De nombreux commentateurs ont déjà évoqué l'existence de points de contact, d'ai nités, voire de similarités, entre les travaux logiques de C.S. Peirce et de L. Wittgenstein : même rejet du psychologisme, de la métaphysique ou encore de l'héritage cartésien. J'ai choisi d'explorer plus avant ce rapprochement en comparant chez les deux philosophes certaines conceptions liées au thème de la ressem blance. Ce choix est justiié car tant chez Wittgenstein que chez Peirce avant lui, la question de la ressemblance se trouve au coeur même de la théorie de la repré sentation. Dans le Tractatus, c'est la soi-disant « théorie du tableau » du langage qui prend en charge la ressemblance au sein de la représentation propositionnelle ; alors que chez Peirce c'est la fonction sémiotique de l'iconicité (et celle d'un de ses corrélats catégoriels, le « rhème ») qui jouent un rôle équivalent (que ce soit au sein de la logique propositionnelle des débuts ou dans la logique des relations vers laquelle il se tourne plus tard, à compter surtout des années 1880). Dans la première partie de mon exposé j'examinerai à la fois ce qui unit ces deux conceptions et ce qui les distingue-car, bien que proches voisines, elles ne sont pas entièrement iden tiques. En outre, je montrerai que l'abandon, par Wittgenstein, de la théorie du tableau après le Tractatus, témoigne des lacunes de celle-ci par rapport aux conceptions logiquement plus rigoureuses de Peirce. Dans la deuxième partie, il sera question du « second » Wittgenstein. En outre, nous verrons en quoi la notion de « ressemblance de famille » utilisée dans Les Recherches philosophiques [IP] est compatible avec la « logique du vague » de Peirce ainsi qu'avec son usage métapho rique de la notion de « photographie composite » en regard de sa théorie de l'inter prétance.
Special Effects on the Screen. Faking the View from Méliès to Motion Capture., 2022
Referred to initially as trick shots or more recently as visual effects, what
we can describe gen... more Referred to initially as trick shots or more recently as visual effects, what
we can describe generally as special effects have been a staple of filmmaking since the earliest years of the commercial exploitation of cinema. Yet given their long history and their importance in the design of countless films, it is surprising how little attention has been paid to them by film scholars until recently. We would like to offer three hypotheses, or better yet perhaps three strands of a single argument, to help account for this situation. This argument rests on three historical pillars of film theory and criticism: an
ideological commitment to realism; an ideological commitment to the seamless narrative text; and an ideological commitment to art and authorship
Critical Inquiry, 2022
It has become commonplace in studies of photography to call on Charles
Peirce’s concept of indexi... more It has become commonplace in studies of photography to call on Charles
Peirce’s concept of indexicality to account for what appears to be a unique relation that photography entertains with the physical world. Peirce himself
sometimes used photographs to exemplify what he meant by an index. But
he also used photographs to exemplify what he called a dicent sign. Furthermore, photographs can equally be used to represent iconically or symbolically, and theymay be interpreted in such a way that they stand as rhematic signs— meaning that indexicality alone does not exhaust the semiotic or representational potential of photography. So, what then is the semiotic nature of photographs? The argument I present here is that no such nature can be determined a priori; rather, we must consider how and for what purpose a given photograph is used as a sign of something. A key, though often neglected, aspect of Peirce’s semiotics is that anything that acts as a sign does so relative to a purpose and relative to the sort of purpose it is apt to sustain in a given situation.
Ctheory, 1990
10. This explanation is offered to spectators and to journalists who cover the play's performance... more 10. This explanation is offered to spectators and to journalists who cover the play's performance. Most of the latter are caricatures of Montreal television, radio, and newspaper critics. This implies a kind of "regional competency" and constitutes yet another level of complexity in the film, one not available to all spectators .
Recherches sémiotiques, 2008
Cinémas: Revue d'études cinématographiques, 2009
Semiotic Review, 2021
The aim of this paper is to reconsider how Peirce's conceptions of iconicity and especially index... more The aim of this paper is to reconsider how Peirce's conceptions of iconicity and especially indexicality can help us logically account for some of the issues that pertain to representation in the cinema. To this end, the study centers on the practice of special effects as a way to reground the entire area of thinking about indexicality within the study of moving images. The author wishes to show how Peirce's concepts not only remains viable for thinking about cinema but also offer a powerful tool for critically analyzing images.
Critics of semiology, and of Christian Metz's work in particular, often alleged that he was not a... more Critics of semiology, and of Christian Metz's work in particular, often alleged that he was not a cinephile, that he had no interest in films (since he hardly ever analyzed a film), and that semiologists like Metz were putting aside everything that made cinema an art and a source of aesthetic pleasure. In short, Metz was frequently attacked for being indifferent to film as an aesthetic artefact. This chapter seeks to develop a more nuanced view by examining the place that the aesthetic occupies in Metz's intellectual trajectory as well as its links with semiology. This place can be divided, broadly speaking at least, into three 'sites' between which the aesthetic moves: expressiveness, stylistics, and poetics.
Cinemas Revue D Etudes Cinematographiques, 2009
... Volume 19, numéro 2-3, printemps 2009, p. 9-376La filmologie, de nouveau Sous la direction de... more ... Volume 19, numéro 2-3, printemps 2009, p. 9-376La filmologie, de nouveau Sous la direction de François Albera et Martin Lefebvre. ...
October 148 (2014)
Christian Metz is remembered today as having almost single-handedly transformed the culture of fi... more Christian Metz is remembered today as having almost single-handedly transformed the culture of film studies. This widely held view was summarized by one commentator, who wrote that "with Metz a new research paradigm is born, as well as a new generation of scholars. The ontological theories are followed by methodological theories." 2 According to another, "Metz exemplified a new kind of film theorist, one who came to the field already 'armed' with the analytic instruments of a specific discipline, who was unapologetically academic and unconnected to the world of film criticism." 3 Of course, Metz didn't just surge like a meteor on the scene of film studies. His arrival was "prepared" by the filmologie movement spearheaded in Paris by Gilbert Cohen-Séat and by two early film semiology essays published by Roland Barthes in La Revue internationale de filmologie. 4 Yet it is Metz who is rightly remembered as the figurehead of film semiology.
This piece appeared in one of James Elkins' Art Seminar series as a commentary on the seminar dev... more This piece appeared in one of James Elkins' Art Seminar series as a commentary on the seminar devoted to photography.
Forthcoming in: Technē/Technology. Researching Cinema and Media Technologies, Their Development, Use and Impact, (Annie van den Œver, Ed.) Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2013
Abstract
Is Peirce’s esthetic relevant for the philosophy of art—what is usually referred to toda... more Abstract
Is Peirce’s esthetic relevant for the philosophy of art—what is usually referred to today as aesthetics? At first glance Peirce’s idiosyncratic esthetic seems quite unconcerned with issues of art. Yet a careful examination reveals that this is not the case. Thus, rather than attempt to “apply” Peirce’s views to some aspect of the practice or the theory of art (e.g., creativity, historiography of art, style, genre), or even to a particular work of art, my intention is to examine how art fits into Peirce’s own conception of his esthetic theory. The argument is divided into two parts. In the first section I present Peirce’s conception of esthetics in the context of the normative sciences. I argue that esthetics connects with various strands of Peirce’s philosophy, most notably his cosmology, his agapasm and with the way that important aspects of them hang together around the principle of abduction and the corresponding notion insight. In the second section, I consider in what way art may be said to be admirable, to contribute to the summum bonum. I try to show that Peirce’s esthetic suggests that what attracts us towards art is first and foremost a semeiotic quality qua quality of mind or quality of Thirdness.
In collaboration with the Sorbonne, the Institute of Filmology
unofficially began offering course... more In collaboration with the Sorbonne, the Institute of Filmology
unofficially began offering courses leading to a degree in film
studies—the first such degree to be offered in France—in 1948.
Its official birth, however, came through a decree published on
October 28, 1950. It was subsequently closed down by another
decree published in June 1963. What happened between these
two dates? What were the conditions of birth of the Institute
and why did it suddenly cease its operations some fifteen years
later? This article, based on archival materials, examines the surprising institutional, political and even “secret” history of the
Institute of Filmology and the role played by its founder and
principal protagonist, Gilbert Cohen-Séat.
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Papers by Martin Lefebvre
we can describe generally as special effects have been a staple of filmmaking since the earliest years of the commercial exploitation of cinema. Yet given their long history and their importance in the design of countless films, it is surprising how little attention has been paid to them by film scholars until recently. We would like to offer three hypotheses, or better yet perhaps three strands of a single argument, to help account for this situation. This argument rests on three historical pillars of film theory and criticism: an
ideological commitment to realism; an ideological commitment to the seamless narrative text; and an ideological commitment to art and authorship
Peirce’s concept of indexicality to account for what appears to be a unique relation that photography entertains with the physical world. Peirce himself
sometimes used photographs to exemplify what he meant by an index. But
he also used photographs to exemplify what he called a dicent sign. Furthermore, photographs can equally be used to represent iconically or symbolically, and theymay be interpreted in such a way that they stand as rhematic signs— meaning that indexicality alone does not exhaust the semiotic or representational potential of photography. So, what then is the semiotic nature of photographs? The argument I present here is that no such nature can be determined a priori; rather, we must consider how and for what purpose a given photograph is used as a sign of something. A key, though often neglected, aspect of Peirce’s semiotics is that anything that acts as a sign does so relative to a purpose and relative to the sort of purpose it is apt to sustain in a given situation.
Is Peirce’s esthetic relevant for the philosophy of art—what is usually referred to today as aesthetics? At first glance Peirce’s idiosyncratic esthetic seems quite unconcerned with issues of art. Yet a careful examination reveals that this is not the case. Thus, rather than attempt to “apply” Peirce’s views to some aspect of the practice or the theory of art (e.g., creativity, historiography of art, style, genre), or even to a particular work of art, my intention is to examine how art fits into Peirce’s own conception of his esthetic theory. The argument is divided into two parts. In the first section I present Peirce’s conception of esthetics in the context of the normative sciences. I argue that esthetics connects with various strands of Peirce’s philosophy, most notably his cosmology, his agapasm and with the way that important aspects of them hang together around the principle of abduction and the corresponding notion insight. In the second section, I consider in what way art may be said to be admirable, to contribute to the summum bonum. I try to show that Peirce’s esthetic suggests that what attracts us towards art is first and foremost a semeiotic quality qua quality of mind or quality of Thirdness.
unofficially began offering courses leading to a degree in film
studies—the first such degree to be offered in France—in 1948.
Its official birth, however, came through a decree published on
October 28, 1950. It was subsequently closed down by another
decree published in June 1963. What happened between these
two dates? What were the conditions of birth of the Institute
and why did it suddenly cease its operations some fifteen years
later? This article, based on archival materials, examines the surprising institutional, political and even “secret” history of the
Institute of Filmology and the role played by its founder and
principal protagonist, Gilbert Cohen-Séat.
we can describe generally as special effects have been a staple of filmmaking since the earliest years of the commercial exploitation of cinema. Yet given their long history and their importance in the design of countless films, it is surprising how little attention has been paid to them by film scholars until recently. We would like to offer three hypotheses, or better yet perhaps three strands of a single argument, to help account for this situation. This argument rests on three historical pillars of film theory and criticism: an
ideological commitment to realism; an ideological commitment to the seamless narrative text; and an ideological commitment to art and authorship
Peirce’s concept of indexicality to account for what appears to be a unique relation that photography entertains with the physical world. Peirce himself
sometimes used photographs to exemplify what he meant by an index. But
he also used photographs to exemplify what he called a dicent sign. Furthermore, photographs can equally be used to represent iconically or symbolically, and theymay be interpreted in such a way that they stand as rhematic signs— meaning that indexicality alone does not exhaust the semiotic or representational potential of photography. So, what then is the semiotic nature of photographs? The argument I present here is that no such nature can be determined a priori; rather, we must consider how and for what purpose a given photograph is used as a sign of something. A key, though often neglected, aspect of Peirce’s semiotics is that anything that acts as a sign does so relative to a purpose and relative to the sort of purpose it is apt to sustain in a given situation.
Is Peirce’s esthetic relevant for the philosophy of art—what is usually referred to today as aesthetics? At first glance Peirce’s idiosyncratic esthetic seems quite unconcerned with issues of art. Yet a careful examination reveals that this is not the case. Thus, rather than attempt to “apply” Peirce’s views to some aspect of the practice or the theory of art (e.g., creativity, historiography of art, style, genre), or even to a particular work of art, my intention is to examine how art fits into Peirce’s own conception of his esthetic theory. The argument is divided into two parts. In the first section I present Peirce’s conception of esthetics in the context of the normative sciences. I argue that esthetics connects with various strands of Peirce’s philosophy, most notably his cosmology, his agapasm and with the way that important aspects of them hang together around the principle of abduction and the corresponding notion insight. In the second section, I consider in what way art may be said to be admirable, to contribute to the summum bonum. I try to show that Peirce’s esthetic suggests that what attracts us towards art is first and foremost a semeiotic quality qua quality of mind or quality of Thirdness.
unofficially began offering courses leading to a degree in film
studies—the first such degree to be offered in France—in 1948.
Its official birth, however, came through a decree published on
October 28, 1950. It was subsequently closed down by another
decree published in June 1963. What happened between these
two dates? What were the conditions of birth of the Institute
and why did it suddenly cease its operations some fifteen years
later? This article, based on archival materials, examines the surprising institutional, political and even “secret” history of the
Institute of Filmology and the role played by its founder and
principal protagonist, Gilbert Cohen-Séat.