Transparence of the icon: ontological theory of image by Jean-Luc Marion and the problem of "τύποσ" in the Byzantine thought
Aesthetic conception of Jean-Luc Marion, based on the principle of “new ontologization” of image, is considered as the opposite to currently dominating Visual Culture Studies, which are built on the principle of liberation of the image from its representative meaning. Responding to the question about the origins of image, and hence the impact of figurative impact, Marion refers to Byzantine understanding of the nature of image and figurative impact, based on the concept of τύπος. The author of this paper, interpreting the «typical» connection between image and prototype and the definitions adopted by the Councils of Nicaea and Hieria, concludes that this relation lies at the heart of both Christian doctrines of image: the «Western» one (image is associated with the prototype as far as it points to the events that had happened) and the «Eastern» one (image produces the real presence of the prototype). From the author's perspective, it is a thematization of the problem of figurative impact expressed in terms of the Byzantine theory of image that makes Marion’s theory capable to reveal the figurative force on the other side of the process of production of ideologies and puts into question the universality of currently dominating Visual Culture Studies.