Esteriorizzazione ed estensione. Un confronto tra Ernst Kapp e Marshall McLuhan

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.

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