What do you think?
Rate this book
Phenomenology of Virtual Technology, The: Perception and Imagination in a Digital Age
The digital age we now live in is fundamentally changing how we relate to our perceptions and images. Daniel O'Shiel provides the first comprehensive phenomenology of virtual technology in order to show how the previously well-established experiential lines and structures between three basic categories of phenomenal experience – our everyday perceptions of reality; our everyday fantasies of irreality; and our everyday engagements with external images, not least digital ones – are becoming blurred, inverted or are even collapsing in a new era where a specific type of virtuality is coming to the fore. O'Shiel examines in depth just what this means for the phenomenology behind it, as well as the concrete practical consequences going forward.
The work is divided into two main parts. In the first O'Shiel fully investigates the phenomenological natures of perception and imagination through close textual analyses of the relevant works by Edmund Husserl, Eugen Fink and Jean-Paul Sartre. In each phenomenologist perception and imagination are ultimately seen as different in kind, although the dividing line differs, especially with reference to a middle category of 'image-consciousness' ( Bildbewusstsein ). This first part argues for basic phenomenological differences between perceptions; physical and external images; and more mental imagery, while also allowing for a more general gradation between them. The second part then applies these theoretical findings to some of the most influential 'virtual technologies' today – social media; online gaming; and some virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies – in order to show how previously clear categories of real and irreal, present and absent, genuine and fake, and even true and false, are becoming less so.
The work is divided into two main parts. In the first O'Shiel fully investigates the phenomenological natures of perception and imagination through close textual analyses of the relevant works by Edmund Husserl, Eugen Fink and Jean-Paul Sartre. In each phenomenologist perception and imagination are ultimately seen as different in kind, although the dividing line differs, especially with reference to a middle category of 'image-consciousness' ( Bildbewusstsein ). This first part argues for basic phenomenological differences between perceptions; physical and external images; and more mental imagery, while also allowing for a more general gradation between them. The second part then applies these theoretical findings to some of the most influential 'virtual technologies' today – social media; online gaming; and some virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies – in order to show how previously clear categories of real and irreal, present and absent, genuine and fake, and even true and false, are becoming less so.
266 pages, Hardcover
Published August 11, 2022
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 23, 2026
O'Sheil has two goals with this text. First, he wants to discuss perception as such in various Phenomenological thinkers. Husserl, Fink, and Sartre are the three major thinkers but he also spends time with Heidegger and Deleuze. Within the discussion about perception, O'Shiel moves to absence and phantasy. Finally, he investigates the virtual, the in-between space between perception and phantasy. His elucidation of these thinkers is clear and well written (although there were a couple of formatting and printing errors which aren't O'Shiels fault per se.) His major contribution is that Satre's account is overlooked and we ought to take it more seriously as an avenue of phenomenological exploration. This covers roughly the first half of the book.
The second half is an analysis of virtual technologies in light of the phenomenological discussed in part one. Here, O'Shiel's focus is on social media, video games, and VR/AR technologies. While the dicsussion is interesting, the points being made are far from groundbreaking. Specifically, O'Shiel *could* make a strong phenomenological critique of social media and virtual technologies were he willing to stake a position other than mere elucidation. As an example, he could go down a Heideggerian path and say that social media as a construct makes us world-poor because it removes the foundations of being-with and being-in. More work would need to be done but O'Shiel is simply unwilling to offer the reader a strong position. A similar issue arises in the discussion around VR tech. He is more "accusatory" so to speak when it comes to video games (of course) as they more obviously replace our world but still, he is afraid, I think, of sounding like a Luddite.
Overall, a fine work that doesn't impress but also doesn't cause regret. The first half displays a strong understanding of phenomenology and what is meant by perception, phantasy, and virtualization in the phenomenological field. One other interesting part of the text is the exploration of Sartre as a true phenomenologist and not a mere existentialist as he's so often labeled.
The second half is an analysis of virtual technologies in light of the phenomenological discussed in part one. Here, O'Shiel's focus is on social media, video games, and VR/AR technologies. While the dicsussion is interesting, the points being made are far from groundbreaking. Specifically, O'Shiel *could* make a strong phenomenological critique of social media and virtual technologies were he willing to stake a position other than mere elucidation. As an example, he could go down a Heideggerian path and say that social media as a construct makes us world-poor because it removes the foundations of being-with and being-in. More work would need to be done but O'Shiel is simply unwilling to offer the reader a strong position. A similar issue arises in the discussion around VR tech. He is more "accusatory" so to speak when it comes to video games (of course) as they more obviously replace our world but still, he is afraid, I think, of sounding like a Luddite.
Overall, a fine work that doesn't impress but also doesn't cause regret. The first half displays a strong understanding of phenomenology and what is meant by perception, phantasy, and virtualization in the phenomenological field. One other interesting part of the text is the exploration of Sartre as a true phenomenologist and not a mere existentialist as he's so often labeled.
Displaying 1 of 1 review