The present doctoral research project aims to address the following question: Is it possible to establish a conceptual genealogy of Aby Warburg's iconology of intervals [Ikonologie des Zwischenraums], as a connection between Robert Vischer's psychological aesthetics and the philosophical anthropology of the 18th century, particularly from Kant and Herder?
Our hypothesis is that one of the most important Warburgian concepts, Nachleben [the survival or afterlife of archaic layers of the human psyche transmitted mnemonically through images], finds its roots in Warburg's careful reading of Robert Vischer's essay "Über das optische Formgefühl" [1873].
Building upon Edgar Wind's indication of Vischer's significance in shaping the Warburgian conceptual framework, we will seek to investigate how certain Kantian conceptions gain importance in the Warburgian universe through the reading of Vischer's essay – even though, as interpreted by Warburg, they are somewhat "twisted": such as the "schematism" of pathos formulas, the vitality [Lebensfähigkeit] of images, the orientation within [the space of] thought, and the determination of perimeter [Umfangbestimmung].