Erwin Panofskys Perspective as Symbolic Form is one of the great works of modern intellectual history, the legendary text that has dominated all art historical and philosophical discussions on the topic of perspective in this century. Finally available in English, it is an unrivaled example of Panofskys early method that placed him within broader developments in theories of knowledge and cultural change. Here, drawing on a massive body of learning that ranges over Antique philosophy, theology, science, and optics as well as the history of art, Panofsky produces a type of «archaeology» of Western representation that far surpasses the usual scope of art historical studies.Perspective in Panofskys hands becomes a central component of a Western «will to form,» the expression of a schema linking the social, cognitive, psychological, and especially technical practices of a given culture into harmonious and integrated wholes. Yet the perceptual schema of each historical culture or epoch is different, and each gives rise to a different but equally full vision of the world. Panofsky articulates these different spatial systems, demonstrating their particular coherence and compatibility with the modes of knowledge, belief, and exchange that characterized the cultures in which they arose. Our own modernity, Panofsky shows, is characterized by its peculiarly mathematical expression of the concept of the infinite, within a space that is necessarily both continuous and homogeneous.

埃尔温-帕诺夫斯基的《作为象征形式的透视》是现代思想史上的伟大作品之一，是本世纪主导所有关于透视主题的艺术史和哲学讨论的传奇性文本。这本书终于有了英文版本，它是帕诺夫斯基早期方法的一个无与伦比的例子，将他置于知识和文化变革理论的更广泛的发展之中。在这里，帕诺夫斯基借鉴了大量的学问，包括古董哲学、神学、科学、光学以及艺术史，产生了一种西方表征的 "考古学"，远远超过了艺术史研究的通常范围。透视在帕诺夫斯基手中成为西方 "形式意志 "的核心组成部分，表达了一种将特定文化的社会、认知、心理，特别是技术实践连接成和谐和综合的整体的模式。然而，每一种历史文化或时代的感知图式都是不同的，每一种都产生了不同但同样完整的世界观。潘诺夫斯基阐述了这些不同的空间系统，展示了它们与知识、信仰和交流模式的特殊一致性和兼容性，这些模式是它们产生的文化的特点。帕诺夫斯基表明，我们自己的现代性的特点是，在一个必然是连续的和同质的空间内，对无限的概念进行独特的数学表达。