John Lechte is professor in Sociology at Macquarie University, Sydney, where he teaches and researches in social and European cultural theory. He has published widely on issues relating to the image and the arts and is well known for his books on Julia Kristeva and his widely acclaimed Fifty Key Contemporary Thinkers.

‘Setting himself an ambitious task, John Lechte has strategically compressed the ontology of what he calls ‘the western image’ into this reasonably small book. And, as might be expected, substantial terrain is covered in order to arrive at the image’s digital future.’– Mark Guglielmetti, Philosophy of Photography

• Introduction: ‘Genealogy’, ‘Ontology’, ‘Western Image’ and the ‘Digital’ Part 1:Genealogy and Ontology (Paradigms) 1. The Image in Plato and the Greek World 2. The Byzantine Image 3. The Renaissance Image 4. Transparency and Opacity: The Image in Rousseau, Diderot, Hume and Kant 5. The Industrial Image Part 2:The Image in Photography and Cinema and its Digital Future 6. Some Fallacies and Truths Concerning the Image in Old and New Media 7. Barthes and Benjamin on the Photographic Image and Time 8. The Image and Beauty in Relation to Visual Digital Art 9. The Time-Image

John Lechte is professor in Sociology at Macquarie University, Sydney, where he teaches and researches in social and European cultural theory. He has published widely on issues relating to the image and the arts and is well known for his books on Julia Kristeva and his widely acclaimed Fifty Key Contemporary Thinkers.

‘Setting himself an ambitious task, John Lechte has strategically compressed the ontology of what he calls ‘the western image’ into this reasonably small book. And, as might be expected, substantial terrain is covered in order to arrive at the image’s digital future.’– Mark Guglielmetti, Philosophy of Photography

• Introduction: ‘Genealogy’, ‘Ontology’, ‘Western Image’ and the ‘Digital’ Part 1:Genealogy and Ontology (Paradigms) 1. The Image in Plato and the Greek World 2. The Byzantine Image 3. The Renaissance Image 4. Transparency and Opacity: The Image in Rousseau, Diderot, Hume and Kant 5. The Industrial Image Part 2:The Image in Photography and Cinema and its Digital Future 6. Some Fallacies and Truths Concerning the Image in Old and New Media 7. Barthes and Benjamin on the Photographic Image and Time 8. The Image and Beauty in Relation to Visual Digital Art 9. The Time-Image

John Lechte is professor in Sociology at Macquarie University, Sydney, where he teaches and researches in social and European cultural theory. He has published widely on issues relating to the image and the arts and is well known for his books on Julia Kristeva and his widely acclaimed Fifty Key Contemporary Thinkers.

‘Setting himself an ambitious task, John Lechte has strategically compressed the ontology of what he calls ‘the western image’ into this reasonably small book. And, as might be expected, substantial terrain is covered in order to arrive at the image’s digital future.’– Mark Guglielmetti, Philosophy of Photography

• Introduction: ‘Genealogy’, ‘Ontology’, ‘Western Image’ and the ‘Digital’ Part 1:Genealogy and Ontology (Paradigms) 1. The Image in Plato and the Greek World 2. The Byzantine Image 3. The Renaissance Image 4. Transparency and Opacity: The Image in Rousseau, Diderot, Hume and Kant 5. The Industrial Image Part 2:The Image in Photography and Cinema and its Digital Future 6. Some Fallacies and Truths Concerning the Image in Old and New Media 7. Barthes and Benjamin on the Photographic Image and Time 8. The Image and Beauty in Relation to Visual Digital Art 9. The Time-Image