Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: What is film-philosophy?
- I WHAT IS CINEMA?
- 1 Hugo Münsterberg
- 2 Vilém Flusser
- 3 Siegfried Kracauer
- 4 Theodor Adorno
- 5 Antonin Artaud
- 6 Henri Bergson
- 7 Maurice Merleau-Ponty
- 8 Emmanuel Levinas
- 9 André Bazin
- 10 Roland Barthes
- II POLITICS OF THE CINEMATIC CENTURY
- III CINEMATIC NATURE
- Filmography
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - Hugo Münsterberg
from I - WHAT IS CINEMA?
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: What is film-philosophy?
- I WHAT IS CINEMA?
- 1 Hugo Münsterberg
- 2 Vilém Flusser
- 3 Siegfried Kracauer
- 4 Theodor Adorno
- 5 Antonin Artaud
- 6 Henri Bergson
- 7 Maurice Merleau-Ponty
- 8 Emmanuel Levinas
- 9 André Bazin
- 10 Roland Barthes
- II POLITICS OF THE CINEMATIC CENTURY
- III CINEMATIC NATURE
- Filmography
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Hugo Münsterberg (1863–1916) was a leading psychologist and philosopher who worked in Germany and the United States. He studied medicine and experimental psychology (with Wilhelm Wundt), and become Professor of Psychology at the University of Freiburg in 1892. His friendship with American psychologist and philosopher William James led to his appointment to the faculty at Harvard University in 1897. While in America, he became a famous academic, publishing numerous books on applied psychology, including The Principles of Art Education (1905), Psychology and Crime (1908), Psychotherapy (1909), Vocation and Learning (1912), Psychology and Industrial Efficiency (1913), American Patriotism and other Social Studies (1913), Business Psychology (1915) and Psychology (1916). In his final book, The Photoplay (1916), Münsterberg argued for the psychological and aesthetic distinctiveness of film as a serious art form. Following the outbreak of the First World War and his increasing criticisms of American life, Münsterberg's work fell out of favour with the public. Despite almost a century of neglect, The Photoplay is generally recognized today as the first genuine work of film theory.
How could we not have known him all these years? In 1916 this man understood cinema about as well as anyone ever will.
(Jean Mitry)Dedicated film enthusiasts might imagine that philosophical interest in film is a relatively recent phenomenon, dating back to Stanley Cavell's work in the 1970s or perhaps to the heyday of French film theory in the 1960s. It might be surprising, then, to learn that philosophical reflection on film was flourishing already in the early part of the twentieth century.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Film, Theory and PhilosophyThe Key Thinkers, pp. 20 - 30Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2009