In ancient Greece there is no archaic hieroglyphic writing with which alphabetic writing is likely to be confused, or to conflict; thus no prohibition of imagery is motivated, such as that imposed by the “jealous” and invisible God of the Hebrews. The imagery of Greek myths and art will thus not be prohibited or removed, but only adapted to the needs of the new alphabetic culture, concerned rather with replacing myth with philosophical knowledge.
Art was also born as pure aesthetics and imitation of reality, a refined technique (tekne) expressed by excellent craftsmen, but still marginal compared to the new dominant dimension of the human spirit: philosophy. Art, in the cognitive history following the alphabet, was either forbidden in the religious sphere-as in the case of Judaism or Islam-or played a purely aesthetic role, as in the Greco-Roman world. Some significant steps deserve to be analyzed, however, because they correspond to as many evolutionary leaps with cognitive significance. These include Christian sacred art, based on the principle of Incarnation: while the God of Moses is invisible and accessible only through the holy book, Jesus Christ as God incarnated in a historical man becomes depictable in his bodily dimension. In fact, movements against images have appeared in Christianity as well: for example, in the Eastern church one encounters the theological crisis of iconoclasm, a doctrinal movement that in the 8th century questioned the possibility of using images in churches. In the modern era, Calvinism and the Puritan movement were iconoclasts: developed with the Protestant Reformation, which led to the destruction of many statues and effigies in Reformed Northern European churches and cathedrals. However, in Catholicism and Orthodox churches, the use of sacred art in worship prevailed, and this allowed the extraordinary development of visual arts in Europe.
Two evolutionary leaps occur successively in this sphere related to two cognitive technologies: the prospectograph in the Renaissance and photography at the origin of contemporary art. In these contexts, which we will analyze later, the artist also stands as a thinker and trespasses into the intellectual territories that in the ancient world were the exclusive legacy of philosophy. In its highest and most conceptual expressions, Western art claims for the image the role of a form of intelligence and thought.
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