Refractions of Reality: Philosophy and the Moving Image (PDF)

JOHN MULLARKEY is Professor of Film and Television, Kingston University, London, UK. His publications include Bergson and Philosophy (1999) and Post-Continental Philosophy: An Outline (2006). He is an editor of Film-Philosophy.com.

'In this engaging, comprehensive, incisive work, Mullarkey addresses whether film can philosophize on its own, adding something original, rather than simply illustrating concepts that philosophers extract from their own discourse An indispensible work for students/scholars in philosophy of film/art, aesthetics, and film studies.' D.W.Rothermel, CHOICE

'...addresses the question of the relation between art and philosophy - the age-old problem of aesthetics - in an entirely original manner by examining how film changes the terms of this debate.'

'...to summarize Mullarkey's text in terms of his criticism of other film theorists does not do justice to the intricate readings and impressive scope of Mullarkey's overall approach. His engagement with figures such as Jacques Rancière, Edward Branigan, Joseph Anderson, Badiou, and Cavell (to name a few) lead him to fascinating 'partial' observations on the nature of film.'

'The gesture Mullarkey employs - a graceful, seamless move from critical analysis to constructive observation - suggests a pluralistic strategy based on an ethics of affirmation and acknowledgement.'

'...as a treatment of the question 'what does film mean for philosophy?', Mullarkey offers an intricate and considered study - with important consequences for philosophy in terms of what can be said, and what may be gestured to only by attention to what is left unsaid - that is to say, through a constellation of plural and variably flawed refractions.' -

Amanda Dennis in The International Journal for Philosophical Studies

'This book, in some sense, brings to an end a certain phase of film theorizing and instead looks toward something quite new: how theories have been written and how they may be written, how they fall into types, how these types are filling out not a logical grid but a grid of the anxieties we feel, and the defenses we erect toward the everyday. A wonderful, ground-breaking book.'