Sontag's Argumentative Essay

Words: 707
Pages: 3
Open Document
The question as to whether photography disturb time is really a philosophical question in the sense that in order to answer this question, we need to understand what time is in the first place. Our understanding of time will tie enable us to tackle the issue of photography and reality, a common theme in Sontag’s essays about photography. In the last essay written about photography and reality, a common claim was established which is, photography does not capture reality according to Sontag’s essays. Well what is reality then? It seems like reality on one side of an argument is the idea of presentism which can be best explained as objects and experiences in the present are those that we can deem real. Therefore, past events or objects cannot …show more content…
From a philosophy standpoint, one can argue that events of the past can be experienced in the present or in the future. This idea can be best explained by Sontag’s essays on photography. Susan Sontag quotes, “...ultimately, having an experience becomes identical with taking a photograph of it, and participating in a public event comes more and more to be equivalent to looking at it in photographed form” (24). For instance, a wedding photograph is a reminder of the experience especially for the couple. As long as the couple takes the picture and look at it, they automatically experience that day of their lives and that becomes their reality for a brief moment. This sort of create an idea that those experiences or objects are everlasting or presently enduring. Looking at a picture of your grandparents at their younger ages gives you a glimpse of who they are today. This becomes more evident when they are no longer existent and then that same picture gives you a better memory of them. But of course, one can argue that this is your own reality created about them and may be completely different from that of theirs. If so, then reality is subjective and false and the whole idea of time is false or if not false very hard to understand especially by using Sontag’s work on
Show More

Related Documents: Sontag's Argumentative Essay

Dead Man Walking Susan Sontag Analysis

For the argumentative timed writing on Susan Sontag’s claim about photography, I would give myself a score of six. In my essay, I developed a strong thesis that supported Sontag’s claim through the use of Sheridan Baker thesis machine. Specific and meaningful examples from the Holocaust and nonfiction book Dead Man Walking was used to support my claim. Although I used two examples, the first example from Dead Man Walking was much more successfully than the second example from the Holocaust. In…

Words 282 - Pages 2