Heidegger and the iPad: presence and image during the pandemic

Abstract

This article aims at exploring different dimensions of our digital moment. The Covid-19 crisis has allowed us to experiment with images on an unprecedented level. Taking that as a point of departure, and building upon a number of philosophical references, I ask whether virtual meetings are opposed to an “experience” that we so often conceive in Benjaminian terms. If two people sit in silence in front of connected computers, are they together? This simple question triggers a series of reflections on the very nature of images and what we call presence. Even though my final take on the current expanded digital experience is positive, the questions it allows us to raise are many. At the core of my argument is the presence of the body and the social implications of the digitization of the world, as well as the remote teaching experience.