Pictorial Appearances. A Phenomenological Inquiry

This work thematizes the phenomenological thresholds that separate image and reality. The Husserlian theory of image consciousness is discussed, criticized in light of the contemporary debate on depiction, and then questioned against different types of pictorial spaces. It is argued that the major limitation of this theory is its focus on depictive images and the consequent flattening of the conditions that make possible the appearance of an image on the conditions of its having a meaning. To overcome this problem, a genetic phenomenological approach to the study of the image is proposed that takes into account the phenomenology of passive syntheses and the analyses of the constitution of space—three-dimensional first, and then pictorial. This work presents the idea that pictorial appearances unfold in a specific way that contrasts with phenomenal sequences of the ordinary objects that populate our environment. This contrast grounds the divide between image and reality.