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Nachgeschichte. Eine korrigierte Geschichtsschreibung
Is there any room left for freedom in a programmed world? This is the essential question that Vilém Flusser asks in Post-History. Written as a series of lectures to be delivered at universities in Brazil, Israel, and France, it was subsequently developed as a book and published for the first time in Brazil in 1983. This first English translation of Post-History brings to an anglophone readership Flusser’s first critique of apparatus as the aesthetic, ethical, and epistemological model of present times.
In his main argument, Flusser suggests that our times may be characterized by the term “program,” much in the same way that the seventeenth century is loosely characterized by the term “nature,” the eighteenth by “reason,” and the nineteenth by “progress.” In suggesting this shift in worldview, he then poses a provocative question: If I function within a predictable programmed reality, can I rebel and how can I do it? The answer comes swiftly: Only malfunctioning programs and apparatus allow for freedom.
Throughout the twenty essays of Post-History, Flusser reminds us that any future theory of political resistance must consider this shift in worldview, together with the horrors that Western society has brought into realization because of it. Only then may we start to talk again about freedom.
- GenresPhilosophyHistoryTheory
333 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
8 people are currently reading
276 people want to read
About the author
Vilém Flusser
87 books167 followersVilém Flusser was a philosopher born in Czechoslovakia. He lived for a long period in Brazil and later in France, and his works are written in several different languages.
His early work was marked by discussion of the thought of Martin Heidegger, and by the influence of existentialism and phenomenology. Phenomenology would play a major role in the transition to the later phase of his work, in which he turned his attention to the philosophy of communication and of artistic production. He contributed to the dichotomy in history: the period of image worship, and period of text worship, with deviations consequently into idolatry and "textolatry".
Flusser was born in 1920 in Prague into a family of Jewish intellectuals. His father, Gustav Flusser, studied mathematics and physics (under Albert Einstein among others). Flusser attended German and Czech primary schools and later a German grammar school.
In 1938, Flusser started to study philosophy at the Juridical Faculty of the Charles University in Prague. In 1939, shortly after the Nazi occupation, Flusser emigrated to London to continue his studies for one term at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Vilém Flusser lost all of his family in the German concentration camps: his father died in Buchenwald in 1940; his grandparents, his mother and his sister were brought to Auschwitz and later to Theresienstadt where they were killed. The next year, he emigrated to Brazil, living both in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
In 1960 he started to collaborate with the Brazilian Institute for Philosophy (IBF) in São Paulo and published in the Revista Brasileira de Filosofia; by these means he seriously approached the Brazilian intellectual community. During that decade he published and taught at several schools in São Paulo, being Lecturer for Philosophy of Science at the Escola Politécnica of the University of São Paulo and Professor of Philosophy of Communication at the Escola Dramática and the Escola Superior de Cinema in São Paulo. He also participated actively in the arts, collaborating with the Bienal de São Paulo, among other cultural events.
Beginning in the 1950s he taught philosophy and functioned as a journalist, before publishing his first book Língua e realidade (Language and Reality) in 1963. In 1972 he decided to leave Brazil.
He lived in both Germany and the South of France. To the end of his life, he was quite active writing and giving lectures around media theory. He died in 1991 in a car accident, while visiting his native Prague to give a lecture.
His early work was marked by discussion of the thought of Martin Heidegger, and by the influence of existentialism and phenomenology. Phenomenology would play a major role in the transition to the later phase of his work, in which he turned his attention to the philosophy of communication and of artistic production. He contributed to the dichotomy in history: the period of image worship, and period of text worship, with deviations consequently into idolatry and "textolatry".
Flusser was born in 1920 in Prague into a family of Jewish intellectuals. His father, Gustav Flusser, studied mathematics and physics (under Albert Einstein among others). Flusser attended German and Czech primary schools and later a German grammar school.
In 1938, Flusser started to study philosophy at the Juridical Faculty of the Charles University in Prague. In 1939, shortly after the Nazi occupation, Flusser emigrated to London to continue his studies for one term at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Vilém Flusser lost all of his family in the German concentration camps: his father died in Buchenwald in 1940; his grandparents, his mother and his sister were brought to Auschwitz and later to Theresienstadt where they were killed. The next year, he emigrated to Brazil, living both in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
In 1960 he started to collaborate with the Brazilian Institute for Philosophy (IBF) in São Paulo and published in the Revista Brasileira de Filosofia; by these means he seriously approached the Brazilian intellectual community. During that decade he published and taught at several schools in São Paulo, being Lecturer for Philosophy of Science at the Escola Politécnica of the University of São Paulo and Professor of Philosophy of Communication at the Escola Dramática and the Escola Superior de Cinema in São Paulo. He also participated actively in the arts, collaborating with the Bienal de São Paulo, among other cultural events.
Beginning in the 1950s he taught philosophy and functioned as a journalist, before publishing his first book Língua e realidade (Language and Reality) in 1963. In 1972 he decided to leave Brazil.
He lived in both Germany and the South of France. To the end of his life, he was quite active writing and giving lectures around media theory. He died in 1991 in a car accident, while visiting his native Prague to give a lecture.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 22, 2013
Summary: "Learn to play" or else become a piece in an "absurd game" of programs that run away from their programmers.
Variably: "Program or be programmed to program"
Flusser talks a lot about how what we think of as human life and freedom has become "absurd" in a world run by programs/apparatus/institutions that function and continue to function with complete disregard for their intended purpose or intended objects.
To think in terms of purposes and objects is either finalistic ("for what?"/"why?") or causalistic ("how happened?"). Flusser suggests that a new worldview is necessary to understand a world that functions without purpose: the programmatic ("how *possible*?"). In other words, don't ask "for what is x meant?" or "how does x determine y?" but " what are the implicit virtualities in x, y, x+y, x-y, ...?" -- what are the potential situations which WILL manifest themselves given an absurd enough amount of time or an absurd enough amount of *permutations* (read: this becomes more and more our situation with increases in processing speed)? What does x make *possible*?
Flusser at times talks about the absurd as a horizon to be hopefully escaped. Elsewhere he calls for us to "accept the absurd," as a player accepts the rules of the game. Personally I am left with a nagging question: what draws the boundaries of the absurd other than the safety of human or Western conventions (conventions which Flusser himself notes contain such horrific virtualities as Auschwitz)? Is the absurd not an indication of a boundary to be stepped across?
In the end it seems that Flusser is less afraid of an absurd life than an inhuman life. We can "accept the absurd" as long as we recapture "responsibility" from our past and present abdications, whether they be destiny or objectification or functionalism. We must be responsible to ourselves in order to save us from the fate of becoming "slots" and "functionaries" of blind programs, and we must be responsible to others in order to emancipate our thinking from the lonely monstrosity of objectification.
There is much to think with here.
Variably: "Program or be programmed to program"
Flusser talks a lot about how what we think of as human life and freedom has become "absurd" in a world run by programs/apparatus/institutions that function and continue to function with complete disregard for their intended purpose or intended objects.
To think in terms of purposes and objects is either finalistic ("for what?"/"why?") or causalistic ("how happened?"). Flusser suggests that a new worldview is necessary to understand a world that functions without purpose: the programmatic ("how *possible*?"). In other words, don't ask "for what is x meant?" or "how does x determine y?" but " what are the implicit virtualities in x, y, x+y, x-y, ...?" -- what are the potential situations which WILL manifest themselves given an absurd enough amount of time or an absurd enough amount of *permutations* (read: this becomes more and more our situation with increases in processing speed)? What does x make *possible*?
Flusser at times talks about the absurd as a horizon to be hopefully escaped. Elsewhere he calls for us to "accept the absurd," as a player accepts the rules of the game. Personally I am left with a nagging question: what draws the boundaries of the absurd other than the safety of human or Western conventions (conventions which Flusser himself notes contain such horrific virtualities as Auschwitz)? Is the absurd not an indication of a boundary to be stepped across?
In the end it seems that Flusser is less afraid of an absurd life than an inhuman life. We can "accept the absurd" as long as we recapture "responsibility" from our past and present abdications, whether they be destiny or objectification or functionalism. We must be responsible to ourselves in order to save us from the fate of becoming "slots" and "functionaries" of blind programs, and we must be responsible to others in order to emancipate our thinking from the lonely monstrosity of objectification.
There is much to think with here.
August 28, 2013
Post-History reads as an addendum to Baudillard's System of Objects: a methodic attempt to theorize trends in current (c. 1983) Western culture, with only so-so results. (Even Flusser, at the end of this book, rates his attempt as a failure.) While such totalizing attemps seem appealing--an aftereffect, no doubt of Modernism at all things Wagner)--attempts that weigh in at only 167 pages, such as Post-History, necessary tend to the overarching generalization and abstraction, and suffer for a lack of concrete examples. So, while I find myself nodding in agreement with some of his arguments, I remain unconvinced by an equal number. The upshot of Post-History is that the degree of alienation we all feel is increasing, and so the need to buck the system (here, "apparatus")--and how--is increasing, too. This is the message of '60s protest updated for the cyberage.
November 7, 2023
Incredible first half but my God did it go downhill... A weird mash between postmodernism and classic phenomenology that didn't ground its thought very well. It's full of big interesting sentences but they feel very forced at times. He went for a a very solid absurdist epistemology at the beginning but then it derived into a weak critique of contemporary culture (and counter culture) that felt very clunky. It's still good and he manages to make brilliant points but..... The execution isnt the best
July 21, 2016
This is an amazing work of theory. Flusser's ideas feel incredible and revolutionary, and he presents them at a rapid fire pace that leaves the head spinning in the best way possible. Unlike many theorists, he is incredibly readable, with an almost journalistic style that manages to deal with difficult material in a non-pretentious way. I really love how the book was broken up into short, subtly connected essays. This structure kept the ideas well-organized. Anyone interested in media theory, theories of history, or just critical theory in general, should give Flusser a read. It's dark stuff he's dealing with (the self-annihilation of man inherent in the program of Western culture... doesn't that sound like fun?) but he offers an answer that people should be able to get behind.
December 6, 2020
A brilliant book: A collection of articles and short analytical short stories - extremely dense in its meaning it needs to be read, re-read, dissected and digested. Each article is a discovery trip of the mind. Marvelous !
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February 1, 2025Physically lost the book halfway through. Found it again, thankfully. Flusser is genius
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews