The main challenge of “PhiloGraphics. How to Do Concepts with Images” is to answer the questions “is it possible to read and produce philosophical works not only textually, but also visually? What could be the consequences of this for philosophical thinking and for the production of philosophical knowledge?”. Such a challenge requires a new interdisciplinary approach which will involve 3 main research fields: the study of visual knowledge representations, the study of visual language, and the philosophy of image. Hence, the research is innovative not only in developing an original and interdisciplinary approach to the visual interpretation and production of philosophical knowledge, but also in bringing together fields of research that are separate at the moment, but that the project will show as complementary. This will be done by using an original case study taken from the history of contemporary philosophy. “PhiloGraphics” will inquire into the possibility that philosophy can also find its own space within the realm of visuality, addressing the implications of the digital revolution in and for philosophy in a specific and original way. Thus, it will reveal and address a knowledge gap both in the philosophical textual discourse on visuality and in the analysis of the visual production of knowledge and of visual language: the lack of an approach centered on the passage from a humanistic and philosophical textual discourse on visuality to an effective visual production of philosophical knowledge. The innovative character of the project is that it will introduce in philosophical research a new approach to the understanding, interpretation, and production of philosophical works, which at present are generally studied only as texts, and not as “interfaces”.
Finally, the research can provide an original contribution to the construction of visual literacy by extending it also to philosophy, opening the discussion on the possible forms of visual-philosophical literacy.