"We do not simply "see" what falls before our eyes. Rather, we isolate certain of the elements of our visual field by a special power of the mind, and by this same power we screen out or dismiss other elements. This power-which operates paradigmatically in the domain of vision but which would seem to function across the whole of the sensory/cognitive domain-is called "attention," and it has been (and remains) of great interest to philosophers, psychologists, cognitive scientists, and creative artists alike. Because we are widely thought to be experiencing, today, a "crisis of attention" (a crisis unfolding in the context of new theorizations of the "attention economy"), close work on the historical evolution of our understanding of attention feels urgent-as does meaningful engagement with current critical and technical discourse in this area. What attention is and how to cultivate and activate it are, Burnett and Smith believe, among the most pressing questions of our era. Leading authors from a variety of fields take on a key moment in the shifting "ecology of attention," and each offers a trenchant analysis of the way human attention has been figured across the domains of media, technology, religious practice, and literary endeavor. The result is a dynamic, readerly, and imaginative reconnoitering of the problems of the focused senses and the attentive mind"--
Are we paying enough attention? At least since the nineteenth century, critics have alleged a widespread and profound failure of attentiveness—to others, to ourselves, to the world around us, to what is truly worthy of focus. Why is there such great anxiety over attention? What is at stake in understanding attention and the challenges it faces?
This book investigates attention from a range of disciplinary perspectives, including philosophy, history, anthropology, art history, and comparative literature. Each chapter begins with a concrete scene whose protagonists are trying—and often failing—to attend. Authors examine key moments in the history of the study of attention; pose attention as a philosophical problem; explore the links between attention, culture, and technology; and consider the significance of attention for conceptualizations of human subjectivity. Readers encounter nineteenth-century experiments in boredom, ornithologists conveying sound through field notations, wearable attention-enhancing prosthetics, students using online learning platforms, and inquiries into attention as a cognitive state and moral virtue.
Amid mounting concern about digital mediation of experience, the rise of “surveillance capitalism,” and the commodification of attention, Scenes of Attention deepens the thinking that is needed to protect the freedom of attention and the forms of life that make it possible.
This book investigates attention from a range of disciplinary perspectives, including philosophy, history, anthropology, art history, and comparative literature.
