Bodenlos: Vilém Flusser – A Physical and Intellectual Itinerant

Guilherme Ary Plonski
Institute of Advanced Studies, University of São Paulo, Brazil

Numerous talented young Jews who survived the Shoah by fleeing Europe had to discontinue their academic studies. Not everyone was able to resume studies in destination countries and earn degrees, overcoming economic, language, and cultural challenges. A few of them became faculty members at universities.

Vilém Flusser was one of those talented young people. Born in 1920 in Prague into a family of Jewish intellectuals, he had to interrupt his philosophy studies at Charles University shortly after the Nazi occupation. He fled to Brazil, where he worked in administrative jobs to sustain his family. Having never resumed formal studies, Flusser read books lent to him by a fellow Czech immigrant employed in a bookstore.

In 1960 he started to collaborate with the Brazilian Institute for Philosophy and to write in the cultural section of the main newspaper, becoming known to the Brazilian intellectual community. During that decade he taught at University of São Paulo’s prestigious Engineering School, having been invited by a professor involved in Philosophy of Science, and in other institutions. Because he lacked formal academic credentials, he was never accepted in the university’s Philosophy Department.

He left the university and then moved back to Europe in 1972. There he wrote and lectured on new topics, such as Philosophy of Photography and Technical Images. Flusser died in 1991 in a car accident. His books were translated into twenty languages, including Chinese and Korean. He is still a beacon in Media Philosophy, both in Europe and in Brazil.

Guilherme Ary Plonski
Prof. Guilherme Ary Plonski








Powered by Eventact EMS