Philosophy of Light

Throughout my research, I have come to realize that a systematic research on the various ways light has been used in photography has not been undertaken yet. There are a number of books that deal with the practical issues of studio or location lighting, night and low-light photography and how to create attractive wedding or children’s’ portraits, but I haven’t come across a single book that deals with the theoretical and aesthetic issues that play a role in the way our perception of light and photography have been in continuous interplay since the invention of the medium. 
On the other hand, the uses of light in painting and cinematography have been the subject of numerous books some of which have been useful for the writing of this essay, since the way we view photographs within our ‘modern ocularcentrism’  has been shaped by a long tradition in art. Obviously such a vast and multifaceted subject requires much more time and resources than the ones I have had in my disposal; therefore I have only been able to examine it in a way that is far more superficial than I would have wished.
I have -reluctantly- concentrated on the use of light in the work of four photographers who are the leading contemporary representatives in the area of photographic practice (...) often described as tableau or tableau-vivant photography . I have chosen this particular genre, often referred to as ‘constructed’ or ‘staged’ photography not only because it relates to my own practice but more significantly because the elements depicted (…) are worked out in advance and drawn together to articulate a preconceived idea for the creation of the image  and therefore the light has been pre-determined by the photographer.
I am interested in tracing down the ways in which this choice has been informed and shaped as light is one of the key elements –arguably the most important- that help us ‘read’ a picture, greatly influencing its mood and creating possible associations in the mind of the viewer.

A deconstruction of the implicit notion of Absolute space that dominates modern physics. The deconstruction is enacted by juxtaposing the common notion of Absolute space abstracted from Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica with Levinas’ particular present treatment of space in Otherwise than Being: Or Beyond Essence.

Using Peirce as a guide, this paper explores the way in which light mediates finitude through the relational process of semiosis. Embodying the triadic logic of identity, difference and return, light creates space, time and matter. Attention is on simple bodily forms and the meta-physics of their relationality. The first section introduces the mathematical and metaphysical contours of Peirce’s approach. The second section motivates Peirce’s three categories as interwoven process. In the third section, Peirce’s formalism of the sign is presented and applied to simple physical and biological bodies.

In this paper, I trace the three-fold essence of “return”—a generating trope of identity and difference, through which formal aspects of the theory of relativity, the movement of language and emergence in evolution might converge. The trope of return is contrasted with the more common two-fold structure of relatedness underwriting differential calculus, propositional semantics and reductionism, which privileges space over time, identity over difference, self over creation.

An exploration of Augustine’s approach to unity through three inter-related formal “aspects”, namely monadic, dyad and triadic forms. Augustine’s formalism is used to interrogate the concepts of space, time, light and void (nothingness) in modern physics.

An imaginative exploration of space and time in which light mediates the relationship between finitude and the Infinite. Light becomes the creative source through which interiority and exteriority are manifested and brought into synchronicity as time, space and mass.  The exploration probes the relational logic of relativity theory using the meta-physical insights of Augustine, Hegel, Levinas, and Peirce.

The dialogue between theology and science, nowadays more and more frequently approached from different perspectives in the Romanian space, proves relevant, among other things, in establishing a way of receiving scientific data about the world. A whole series of important discoveries that were made in the last century has revealed new data regarding the structure of space-time, several quantum constituents of matter and energy, unexpected regularities present in the living world and in the processes of the physical world. Such data have elicited long debates and led to the formulation of several questions such as those regarding the nature of the human mind, the nature of mathematical constructions and how the structures of the living and nonliving world can, to a large extent and in many respects, be rendered in mathematical terms.

As scientific exploration reveals more and more situations in which certain mathematical concepts and constructs prove adequate to describe some particular aspects of physical reality, new nuances and possible answers are added to the old questions, further increasing the consistency of discussions and formulation of nuanced perspectives. The order, the harmonies, the patterns existing in the structures and processes of the physical world are most easily located in the space of dialogue between theology, philosophy and science, as they bring into question both the problem of the mind, of the mathematical instrument, the question of the fact of science, but also the remarkable situation of the convergence of three aspects, namely matching the mind and its mathematics with the structures of the surrounding reality. Such situations naturally require a triple perspective, a correct use of the data of science and its premises, a philosophical contribution meant, among other things, to provide possible appropriate interpretations and understandings and, finally, a more comprehensive theological approach, capable of proposing meanings that link these contents with the life of man, with his spiritual uplifting.

We shall next highlight, through three recent work areas, some results that highlight three possible places of convergence between theology, philosophy and science, mentioning, where appropriate, important aspects that condition the authentic dialogue.