Found in Jay, Martin. 1993. Downcast Eyes: The Denigration of Vision in Twentieth- Century French Thought. Berkeley: University of California Press:
“If one had to summarize the contribution of the medieval and early modern struggle over the proper role of the visual in the preparation of the modern ocularcentric culture that followed, three points should be stressed. First, the medieval metaphysics of light…kept alive the assumption that vision was indeed the noblest of the senses, despite its potential for deception and the arousal of lascivious thoughts. Second, the lengthy dispute over the idolatrous implications of that metaphysics and the Church’s visual practices led to a new awareness of the difference between representation and fetishism…[Third] [t]his in turn helped prepare the way for what might be called the secular autonomization of the visual as a realm unto itself. The early modern separation of the visual from the textual…was crucial in the preparation of the scientific worldview.”
Why do I blog this? Because it’s a fascinating quote to keep in mind when discussing “Augmented Reality” and its overly awkward ocularcentrism. The picture above is one I took in Seoul few years ago and that highlight the side-effect of this phenomenon.