--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Despite the illusion of giving…" description: "\"Despite the illusion of giving understanding, what seeing through photographs really invites is an acquisitive relation to the world that nourishes aes..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/548/susan-sontag-332_aesthetic_despite-the-illusion-of-giving-understan_2988063.jpg" --- # Despite the illusion of giving understanding, what seeing… ![“Despite the illusion of giving understanding, what seeing through photographs really invites is an acquisitive relation to the world that nourishes aesthetic awareness and promotes emotional detachment.” quote by Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/548/susan-sontag-332_aesthetic_despite-the-illusion-of-giving-understan_2988063.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/548/susan-sontag-332_aesthetic_despite-the-illusion-of-giving-understan_2988063.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/548/susan-sontag-332_aesthetic_despite-the-illusion-of-giving-understan_2988063.jpg) > “Despite the illusion of giving understanding, what seeing through photographs really invites is an acquisitive relation to the world that nourishes aesthetic awareness and promotes emotional detachment.” [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote critiques photography for turning the world into an object of acquisition, fostering aesthetic awareness but also emotional detachment. **In simple terms:** Photography can create detached aesthetic view. Key Takeaway Be aware of emotional distance in visual media. Themes art criticism media theory detachment Mood analytical critical Type critical philosophical When to use this quote - photojournalism - gallery curation - personal photography Key Concepts aestheticism consumerism Questions to Reflect On - How can photographers balance appreciation and empathy? - Can you practice mindful viewing? A Different Perspective May undervalue photography's documentary power. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Aesthetic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aesthetic/) [Awareness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/awareness/) [Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) [Detachment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/detachment/) [Emotional](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/emotional/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Illusion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/illusion/) [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) [Learning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) [Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography/) [Understanding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understanding/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [It is a little weird seeing photographs from parties where you didn't even know a photographer was there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessie-buckley/it-is-a-little-weird-seeing-photographs-from-parties-where-you-didn-t/) [Jessie Buckley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessie-buckley/) > [When I look at pictures I have made, I have forgotten what I saw in front of the camera and respond only to what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/minor-white/when-i-look-at-pictures-i-have-made-i-have-forgotten-what-i-saw-in/) [Minor White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/minor-white/) > [If tragedy is an experience of hyperinvolvement, comedy is an experience of underinvolvement, of detachment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/if-tragedy-is-an-experience-of-hyperinvolvement-comedy-is-an/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Detachment is the prerogative of an elite; and as the dandy is the nineteenth century's surrogate for the aristocrat in matters ofculture, so Camp…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/detachment-is-the-prerogative-of-an-elite-and-as-the-dandy-is-the/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [“To be a warrior a man has to be, first of all, and rightfully so, keenly aware of his own death. 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You need to be free and detached from things and your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-eriksson/you-need-to-belong-to-yourself-and-let-others-belong-to-themselves/) [Charlotte Eriksson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-eriksson/) > [“Frequently, when I suggest to people that they detach from a person or problem, they recoil in horror. “Oh, no!” they say. “I could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melody-beattie/frequently-when-i-suggest-to-people-that-they-detach-from-a-person-or/) [Melody Beattie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melody-beattie/) > [She watched the prairies the rivers, the towns slipping past at an untouchable distance below - and she noted that the sense of detachment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/she-watched-the-prairies-the-rivers-the-towns-slipping-past-at-an/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) ## More by Susan Sontag > [the appetite for thinking must be regulated, as all sensible people know, for it may stifle one's life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-appetite-for-thinking-must-be-regulated-as-all-sensible-people/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [We are ruled by quotations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/we-are-ruled-by-quotations/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Unfortunately, moral beauty in art - like physical beauty in a person - is extremely perishable. 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The very working of this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/one-set-of-messages-of-the-society-we-live-in-is-consume-grow-do-what/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Currently intellectuals in Western Europe and North America are extremely demoralized and shaken by the rise of a virulent conservative tendency (which some have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/currently-intellectuals-in-western-europe-and-north-america-are/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [With the modern diseases (once TB, now cancer) the romantic idea that the disease expresses the character is invariably extended to assert that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/with-the-modern-diseases-once-tb-now-cancer-the-romantic-idea-that/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [As objects of contemplation, images of the atrocious can answer to several different needs. To steel oneself against weakness. To make oneself more numb.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/as-objects-of-contemplation-images-of-the-atrocious-can-answer-to/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The creative phase of an idea coincides with the period during which it insists, cantankerously, on its boundaries, on what makes it different; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-creative-phase-of-an-idea-coincides-with-the-period-during-which/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Photographs objectify: they turn an event or a person into something that can be possessed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/photographs-objectify-they-turn-an-event-or-a-person-into-something/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I'm not interested in giving aid and comfort to the neo­-Conservatives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/i-m-not-interested-in-giving-aid-and-comfort-to-the-neo-conservatives/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The feminist movement has been important to me because it's made me feel less odd and also because it has made me understand some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-feminist-movement-has-been-important-to-me-because-it-s-made-me/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) [Explore all 644 Susan Sontag quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## More Aesthetic quotes > [You feed yourself. Make sure you have all the information, whether it's aesthetic, scientific, mathematical, I don't care what it is. Then you walk…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/you-feed-yourself-make-sure-you-have-all-the-information-whether-it-s/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“Beauty in the European sense has always had a premeditated quality to it. We've always had an aesthetic intention and a long-range plan. That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/beauty-in-the-european-sense-has-always-had-a-premeditated-quality-to/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [All efforts to render politics aesthetic culminate in one thing: war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/all-efforts-to-render-politics-aesthetic-culminate-in-one-thing-war/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Design certainly has a cosmetic, aesthetic aim. It always aims at making things beautiful. But relevance is just as important. I often say, 'If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yves-behar/design-certainly-has-a-cosmetic-aesthetic-aim-it-always-aims-at/) [Yves Behar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yves-behar/) > [I don't think I was ever thinking critically about my aesthetic, I think it's enough when you're little just to understand that you can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tavi-gevinson/i-don-t-think-i-was-ever-thinking-critically-about-my-aesthetic-i/) [Tavi Gevinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tavi-gevinson/) > [I'm kind of still down with Virg Woolf on this one: "women must kill the aesthetic ideal through which they themselves have been 'killed'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lidia-yuknavitch/i-m-kind-of-still-down-with-virg-woolf-on-this-one-women-must-kill/) [Lidia Yuknavitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lidia-yuknavitch/) > [Virtue is as little to be acquired by learning as genius; nay, the idea is barren, and is only to be employed as an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-schopenhauer/virtue-is-as-little-to-be-acquired-by-learning-as-genius-nay-the-idea/) [Arthur Schopenhauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-schopenhauer/) > [There is a certain aesthetic pleasure in trying to imagine the unimaginable and failing, if you are a reader.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-s-byatt-2/there-is-a-certain-aesthetic-pleasure-in-trying-to-imagine-the/) [A. S. Byatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-s-byatt-2/) > [I try to get the hip-hop aesthetic, most times without an MC. I don't use a rapper or a DJ to give it the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-glasper/i-try-to-get-the-hip-hop-aesthetic-most-times-without-an-mc-i-don-t/) [Robert Glasper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-glasper/) > [It's so important what you're doing in your life. It's tremendously important to the work, and no aesthetic theories take that into account.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-maus/it-s-so-important-what-you-re-doing-in-your-life-it-s-tremendously/) [John Maus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-maus/) > [It is not necessary to have an extravagant food budget in order to serve things with variety and tastefully cooked. It is not necessary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-schaeffer/it-is-not-necessary-to-have-an-extravagant-food-budget-in-order-to/) [Edith Schaeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-schaeffer/) > [In reality no food is valued solely for its nutritive power and no garment or house solely for the protection it affords against cold…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/in-reality-no-food-is-valued-solely-for-its-nutritive-power-and-no/) [Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/) > [Art is realistic when it strives to express an ethical ideal. Realism is striving for truth, and truth is always beautiful. 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Not a movement committed to a particular 'ism', but a gathering together of writers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-metcalf/i-wanted-the-press-to-become-something-of-a-movement-not-a-movement/) John Metcalf [Browse all 953 Aesthetic quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aesthetic/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Despite the illusion of giving understanding, what seeing through photographs really invites is an acquisitive relation to the world that nourishes aesthetic awareness and promotes emotional detachment.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Susan Sontag" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/despite-the-illusion-of-giving-understanding-what-seeing-through/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Aesthetic" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/despite-the-illusion-of-giving-understanding-what-seeing-through/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/548/susan-sontag-332_aesthetic_despite-the-illusion-of-giving-understan_2988063.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/548/susan-sontag-332_aesthetic_despite-the-illusion-of-giving-understan_2988063.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/548/susan-sontag-332_aesthetic_despite-the-illusion-of-giving-understan_2988063.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Despite the illusion of giving understanding, what seeing through photographs really invites is an…” — Susan Sontag", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Susan Sontag", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Despite the illusion of giving understanding,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/despite-the-illusion-of-giving-understanding-what-seeing-through/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/despite-the-illusion-of-giving-understanding-what-seeing-through/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```