Media philosophy and philosophers’ philosophy are in a state of tension. While philosophers produce written texts, in which they think, media produce the ability to think by establishing the conditions that make thinking itself possible – and consequently also behavior or action. In short, media make thought thinkable. Media philosophy therefore does not have writers, much less philosophers; rather, it is an event or possibly even a practice. It is not waiting to be written by philosophers, as it always already takes place in and through media.

As a result, media philosophy can only be found and revealed in media themselves. I will provide a rudimentary and tentative sketch of this approach on the basis of television. By focusing on a single aspect – namely, the thought involved in selection or its ability to make something conceivable – what is ‘inherent’ to the philosophy of television – that is, television itself – is rendered into something ‘foreign’ to it: philosophical writing. – what is ‘inherent’ to the philosophy of television – that is, television itself – is rendered into something ‘foreign’ to it: philosophical writing.

In addition to considering its consequences, the primary obligation of philosophical work is rightly regarded as the clarification of its underlying assumptions (even if this clarification occasionally hinders the consideration of results). If media are granted their own philosophical activity outside the framework of philosophers’ philosophy, then it must first be shown how media clarify their own assumptions. And it is precisely through the process of clarifying their assumptions that media make them themselves conceivable and therefore possible.