A Philosophical History of Documentary, 1960-1990

A Philosophical History of Documentary, 1960–1990 is the second book in a three-volume set. It offers a systematic hermeneutical reading of thirty definitions of Documentary from 1960 to 1990—by then a familiar, already used, and “abused” dialectical object of thought and practice. The book progresses chronologically through three decades of ongoing efforts by documentarians, theorists, historians, and philosophers to define Documentary, examining the philosophical foundations, ethical implications, and evolving documentarological sensibilities of these definitions. It also reassesses the intense ontological debates about Documentary, highlighting the discourse's expanding definitional landscape. Building on the first volume, which examined thirty definitions from 1895 to 1959, this work weaves an intricate hermeneutical network of interconnections among all sixty definitions. It further anticipates the third volume, which will analyze forty additional definitions of Documentary from 1991 to the present, offering a comprehensive philosophical history of the evolution of Documentary as both concept and practice.

About the Author

Dan Geva

is Professor of Film at Beit-Berl College, a research fellow at the University of Haifa, Israel.