On J·D·Peters’ Theory Of Elemental Media

With the increasingly close relationship between media and technology,the current media theory research is deeply involved in the logical framework of technicism.However,as Heidegger pointed out,in the process of exposing truth,technology is inevitably accompanied by the masking of media itself.Therefore,understanding media from the perspective of technology alone is not the optimal solution,and may even lead to cognitive bias.Based on this theoretical dilemma,this thesis chooses to take the elemental media theory proposed by Peters as the object of study,aiming to explore the possibility of a critical practice in the transition period of media theory.This thesis examines the construction of Peters’ media theory system by focusing on five directions:the theoretical origin of elemental media,elemental kernel,meaning production,critical practice and its theoretical value.Heidegger’s reflection on the relationship between being,truth,and medium inspired Peters to shift the center of his research from medium as an instrument to medium as an ontology to be viewed.On the basis of his inheritance of his ideas,Peters uses the medium to further consider Heidegger’ s state of "dwelling" and the existence of man in this state.Kittler also inherits Heidegger’s ontology and puts forward the concept of“everything is a medium",emphasizing the great influence and shaping power of the medium on human evolution and social development.This move away from anthropocentrism led Peters to focus on the energy of matter itself.Peters realized that the dynamic properties of matter are fundamental to its ability to generate meaning,i.e.,that matter has the capacity for autonomous narrative.Like people,things have autonomy and can actively participate in interaction and selfnarrative.Based on Mormon faith,he explained the meaning of fire and cloud from a religious perspective.When the meanings of various natural elements gain legitimacy from theology,they are related in the way of "network pattern",each radiates outward,forms interleaved,enters the human society,and influences the meaning in the human society.The innovation of Peters’ media theory is not only in the depth of the theoretical core of these two media theorists,but also in his inclusion of nature,a long-neglected element in media theory studies,in the context of media.When the element of nature enters the field of media theory research,the first thing that comes under attack is the rationality of the close relationship between media and technology.For Peters,the newness of technology is not a criterion for judging the newness of media,but rather the emergence of new technologies can obscure the historical continuity between media,and thus lead to the unknowability of media truth.At the same time,Peters does not completely denigrate the significance of technology for the media,but rather,from the synergy of nature and technology,he generalizes "infrastructuralism" to replace the primacy of technology in media theory.Infrastructure,while specifying the media as the environment of the human interstitial state,also emphasizes the media as a combination of the artificial and the natural.The use of elemental media theory for critical practice is Peters’bold attempt to expand the field of media culture.He specifically takes Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead trilogy as the object of criticism,and presents the relationship between nature,technology,and human beings in elemental media theory more clearly:there is no life possible in human society without media,but rather it is in the media environment that human beings can achieve a more complete development and exist in the world;technology and nature are two sides of the same coin,both as media and as human beings.Technology and nature,both as media and as human beings,are one and the same.Elemental media theory brings innovation in vision for human understanding of the world,and its theoretical construction is always based on a specific history,and the construction project also belongs to an unfinished story in the material world,and the existing shortcomings will also become the driving force in the process of theoretical construction.