Visual communication - a transcendental empirical-perspective
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Date
2010
Authors
Strauss, D. F. M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State
Abstract
The recent pictorial turn, succeeded by a visual turn, led to a new appreciation of visual
communication in human culture. Communication is normally associated with subjectsubject
rela tions. The qualification “visual” entails an important demarcation and
restriction for it mainly concerns (lingual and non-lingual) signs, sketches, tables,
typographi cal designs, and so on. What is taken for granted are the spoken and the
(electronically or non-electronically) written word. Attention is given to the remarkable
differences between animals and human beings regarding their visual capacities within
the visible world. It appears that ani mals select only a limited section from what is
available to them within their visible world. Yet, there are animals that can register
supersonic waves, see ultraviolet rays as light, fish can sense electrical fields, and birds
use the magnetic poles of the earth as navigating devices – all senses lacking in a
human being. Within the human visual field human beings are capable of perceiving
many more things than what they are actually noticing. This coheres with the absence
of inborn activating mechanisms in humans. Given the mysterious complexity of the
eye, the important difference be tween animals and human perception is found in the
distinctively human capacity to discern, to locate, to be attentive to something within a
person’s visual field. This ability to be attentive is indeed decisive for visual
communica tion. It is argued that the difference between oral and visual communication
actually may serve to provide a criterion to distinguish between the science of
ethnology and the science of history.
Description
Keywords
Visual communication
Citation
Strauss, D. F. M. (2010). Visual Communication – A Transcendental-Empirical Perspective. Communitas, 15, 1-19.