언어기호와 이미지 사이의 아포리아에 대한 계보학적 연구

초록

This paper presents a genealogical analysis and synthesis of the aporias between linguistic signs and images from the Greeks to the 20th century. Plato’s philosophy not only formed the theoretical foundation of iconoclasm by rejecting or opposing images, sensibility, and even art, but also established the basis for contemporary critiques of the ideological nature or falsity of images. In contrast, Aristotle’s thought served as the intellectual source for medieval iconophiles, as well as theories and ideas affirming mimesis, art, images, sensibility, body, and desire, including art theories based on mimesis theory. The more sovereign power suppressed democracy, the more it treated the peoples as objects of enlightenment, prioritizing the idea and reason while excluding images that did not conform to them. The Council of Nicaea’s endorsement of iconophiles led to the creation of numerous icons and religious artworks, allowing the peoples to approach the divinity of God and Christ through icons as ‘windows to the sacred.’ While the dogmatic stance of iconoclasm denied images and art altogether, it influenced those who sought direct access to God or divinity without images, as well as those who criticized the falsity of images or the deception of the peoples. Their discourse became closely intertwined with the power of the popes or the emperors respectively. Disciplinary power regarded icons as ‘books for the illiterate,’ using visual images to regulate the bodies and minds of the people in the name of obedience. Walter Benjamin observed that reproduced images lost their aura but gained exhibition value, actively engaging with the masses and acquiring social rather than religious significance. Roland Barthes opened a semiotic horizon for analyzing the myths and ideologies embedded in modern cultural signs and images. However, despite accepting Marxist thought, he neglected the interpretation of historical context. William John Thomas Mitchell critically analyzed how the images, combined with commodities and fetishism under the capitalist system, not only impose bourgeois ideology but also compose the reality. And he also proposed the resistance through polyvalency and a dialectical concept of images. Although these three thinkers produced discourses critiquing the ideological power embedded in mass-mediated signs and images, their hegemony remains limited to progressive scholars, overshadowed by the overwhelming force of the capital and the power.

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