The term “images of philosophy” refers to a special group of works that link visual expression and philosophical thinking through a rich system of metaphors and other means that support imagination. Because these images and illustrations were created in direct response to specific philosophical works, parts of them can be linked to ideas and passages in the source text.

The book outlines the history of this neglected genre, from medieval manuscripts to isolated examples from the present day. Images of philosophy were still a common feature of philosophical writings and disputations in the early seventeenth century, but they have gradually disappeared in the period of modern philosophy (after Descartes). The author looks for reasons for the disappearance and transformation of this once rich genre and also shows its contemporary forms.

Zapletal uses the conceptual and theoretical apparatus of contemporary cognitive science to analyse philosophical images. In particular, he focuses on the ways in which metaphors, metonymy, and pictorial schemes are used to interpret linguistic patterns and to capture the ideas of the artists themselves.

In addition to reproductions of existing images of philosophy, this study is accompanied by the author’s own drawings, which permeate the text and form an alternative interpretive line of the material under discussion.

Published by the Academy of Fine Arts, Prague 2022.

The book is available only in Czech.

220 CZK

Aleš Zapletal. Obrazy filozofie a tělesná mysl (Aleš Zapletal. Images of Philosophy and the Physical Mind)