CONTRIBUTI / 9 / Alessandro De Cesaris /
Exteriorization and extension. A comparison between Ernst Kapp and Marshall McLuhan
A commonplace in the literature on the history of media theory is that Marshall McLuhan’s main thesis that media are extensions of the human being was anticipated by the Organprojektion theory, proposed by Ernst Kapp in 1877. The aim of this essay is to propose a critical comparison between the two theoretical models and highlight some fundamental differences between them. The starting point of the analysis will be the conceptual difference between projection and extension, understood as spatial models of interaction between interior and exterior. At the same time, the different theoretical assumptions underlying Kapp’s and McLuhan’s theories will be considered in order to understand the difference between the two proposals. On the basis of these analyses, the essay intends to argue that there is a fundamental difference between the concept of projection, the concept of extension and the concept of prosthesis, showing that – beyond a superficial similarity – these models offer very different explanations of the relationship between human beings and technology.
Riferimenti bibliografici
Fonti primarie
- Hegel, G. W. F., 2000. Enciclopedia delle scienze filosofiche in compendio. La Filosofia dello spirito. A cura di Alberto Bosi. Torino, UTET.
- Hegel, G. W. F., 2006. Lineamenti di filosofia del diritto. A cura di V. Cicero. Milano, Bompiani.
- Kapp, E., 2015. Grundlinien einer Philosophie der Technik. Hamburg, Meiner.
- Kapp, E., 2008. Principes d’une philosophie de la technique. Paris, Vrin.
- Kapp, E., 1877. Vergleichende allgemeine Erdkunde als wissenschaftliche Darstellung der Erdverhältnisse und des Menschenlebens nach ihrem innern Zusammenhang. Braunschweig.
- Kapp, E., 2018. Elements of Philosophy of Technology. On the Evolutionary History of Culture. A cura di Jeffrey West Kirkwood e Leif Weatherby. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press.
- McLuhan, M., 1964. Understanding Media. The Extensions of Man. New York, McGraw-Hill.
- McLuhan, M., 1986. Gli strumenti del comunicare. Milano, Il Saggiatore, 1986.
- McLuhan, M., La galassia Gutenberg. La nascita dell’uomo tipografico. Milano, Armando, 2011.
- McLuhan, M. e McLuhan, E., 1992. Laws of media. The New Science.Toronto, University of Toronto Press.
Letteratura secondaria
- Alsberg, P., 2020. L’enigma dell’umano. Per una soluzione biologica, tr. it. E. Nardelli, Roma, Inschibboleth,
- Boldyrev, I. e Hermann-Pillath, C., 2012. «Hegel’s “Objective Spirit”, extended mind, and the institutional nature of economic action». «Mind & Society» 1, pp. 177-202. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-012-0111-3.
- Bond, D. W., 2014. Hegel’s Geographical Thought. «Environment and Planning D: Society and Space» 32, fasc. 1, pp. 179-198.
- Buffon, Georges-Louis. 1778. Les époques de la nature. Paris, Imprimerie royale.
- Cassirer, E., 2009. Schriften zur Philosophie der symbolischen Formen. Hamburg, Meiner.
- Cavell, R., 2003. McLuhan in Space. A Cultural Geography. Toronto, University of Toronto Press.
- Cera, A., 2019. Tecnica e antropogenesi tra organologia e istituzionalità. «Etica & Politica» XXI, fasc. 2 (2019), pp. 227-235. https://doi.org/10.13137/1825-5167/28366.
- Chabot, P. e Hottois, G., 2003. Les philsoophes et la technique. Paris, VRIN.
- Chalmers, D. e Clark, A. 1998. The Extended Mind. «Analysis» 58, fasc. 1, pp. 7-19.
- Chantraine, P., 1999. Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grécque, 3 voll., Paris, Klincksiek.
- Clarizio, E., 2021. La vie technique. Une philosophie biologique de la technique. Paris, Hermann.
- D’Atri, A., 2008. Vita e artificio. La filosofia di fronte a natura e tecnica. Milano, Rizzoli.
- De Cesaris, A., 2016. L’opera d’arte dell’anima. Corpo, tecnica e medialità nell’Antropologia di Hegel, «Tròpos», IX, 1, pp. 139-157.
- Erkan, E., 2020. A Promethean Philosophy of External Technologies, Empiricism, & the Concept: Second-Order Cybernetics, Deep Learning, and Predictive Processing. «Media Theory» 4, fasc. 1, pp. 87-146.
- Farinelli, F., 2003. Geografia. Un’introduzione ai modelli del mondo. Torino, Einaudi.
- Feuerbach, L., 1997. L’essenza del cristianesimo. A cura di Francesco Tomasoni. Roma – Bari, Laterza.
- Frisk, H. 1960, Griechisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2 Bd., Heidelberg, Carl Winter Verlag.
- Grigenti, Fabio., 2016. Existence and Machine. The German Philosophy in the Age of Machines. New York, Springer.
- Hall, E. T. 1959., The Silent Language. New York, Doubleday.
- Hall, E. T,. 1966, The Hidden Dimension. New York, Anchor Books.
- Harrasser, K., 2018. Corpi 2.0. Sulla dilatabilità tecnica dell’uomo. Milano, GoWare.
- Harrasser, K., 2016. Prothesen. Figuren einer lädierten Moderne. Berlin, Vorwerk 8.
- Kittler, F., 1986. Grammophon, Film, Typewriter. Berlin, Brinkmann&Bose.
- Kroker, A., 2001. Technology and the Canadian Mind. Montréal, New World Perspectives.
- Lamberti, E., 2000. Marshall McLuhan. Tra letteratura, arte e media. Milano, Bruno Mondadori.
- Marino, M., 2008. Da Gehlen a Herder. Origine del linguaggio e ricezione di Herder nel pensiero antropologico tedesco. Bologna, Il Mulino.
- Maye, H. e Scholz, L. (a cura di), 2019. Ernst Kapp und die Anthropologie der Medien. Berlin, Kadmos.
- Mumford, L., 2005. Tecnica e cultura. Storia della macchina e dei suoi effetti sull’uomo. Milano, Il Saggiatore.
- Mumford, L., 2005. Tecnica e cultura. Storia della macchina e dei suoi effetti sull’uomo. Milano, Il Saggiatore.
- Parisi, F., 2019. La tecnologia che siamo. Torino, Codice.
- Restuccia, F., 2020. Per un’archeologia del paradigma dell’estensione. Ernst Kapp e la proiezione organica. «Polemos» 2, pp. 327-345. https://doi.org/DOI: 10.48247/P2020-2-019.
- Ritter, C., 1817. Die Erdkunde im Verhältniß zur Natur und zur Geschichte des Menschen, oder allgemeine vergleichende Geographie, als sichere Grundlage des Studiums und Unterrichts in physikalischen und historischen Wissenschaften. Berlin.
- Sprenger, F., 2013. Extension Extended – Ernst Kapp, Marshall McLuhan and their unaffiliated corrispondence. In van den Eede, Y., Bauwens, J., Beyl, J., Van den Bossche, M., Verstrynge, K. McLuhan’s Philosophy of Media – Centennial Conference. Bruxelles, Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van Belgie voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten, 2013, pp. 279-288.
- Wiener, O., 1900. Die Erweiterung unserer Sinne. Leipzig, Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth.
- Young, J. Z. 1961. Doubt and Certainty in Science. Oxford, Oxford University Press.