THINKER'S ALMANAC - April 23

What can two photos shot in 1855 of a desolate war landscape teach us about the search for truth?

Subject: Epistemology - “The Valley of the Shadow of Death” Photographs

Event:  Photographer Roger Fenton takes some of the first photographs of war, 1855

Truth is not relative. It's not subjective. It may be elusive or hidden. People may wish to disregard it. But there is such a thing as truth and the pursuit of truth: trying to figure out what has really happened, trying to figure out how things really are. -Errol Morris

On this day in 1855, photographer Roger Fenton took two photographs of the stark landscape where the Crimean War was being fought.  The two photos are taken from the exact same spot; however, there is one noticeable difference between the two scenes:  one photo shows a road littered with cannonballs; the other photo shows a road free of cannonballs with cannonballs off to the side of the same road. 

                                                        Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay 

The two photos provide a kind of visual which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg question since there is no record of which photo Fenton took first.  Some, like the writer Susan Sontag, claim that the “Off” photo -- the one with no cannonballs on the road, must have been the first photo taken; Fenton then placed cannonballs on the road to stage a more dramatic scene for the “On” photo.  This sequence makes logical sense; however, how can we know for certain that this is the true sequence?

This is the question that plagued the writer and Academy Award winning director Errol Morris.  Morris is not satisfied with claims -- even reasonable ones-- that are not supported by concrete evidence.  His 1988 documentary The Thin Blue Line, about the 1976 murder of a police officer in Dallas, helped overturn the conviction of Randall Adams, who at the time was on Texas’ death row awaiting execution.

Morris went so far as to travel to Crimea to examine the lay of the land where the photos were taken.  He also spent countless hours examining the shadows cast by the cannonballs in hopes that this might provide some clues to which photo was taken first.  

In the end the answer came when Morris collaborated with his friend Dennis Purcell, an optical engineer.  After scrutinizing the photos for hours, Purcell realized that the evidence was in plain sight, but it had nothing to do with the locations of the cannonballs; instead, it had to do with the location of several seemingly insignificant rocks in the photos.  Purcell was so meticulous in his examination of the photographs that he named the rocks that were in different locations in the two photos.  The rocks -- Marmaduke, George, Lionel, Oswald and Fred -- were on higher ground in the “off” photo; in the “on” photo, however, they were located on lower ground.  Based on this rock-solid evidence, Purcell concluded that the “off” photo was taken first and that in the process of moving the cannonballs onto the road, the rocks had been inadvertently kicked; based on the logic of gravity, therefore, it makes sense that the rocks would have rolled downhill.  The conclusion, therefore, is that the “on” photo is truly the second photo.

Purcell’s case persuaded Morris, but it also provided a powerful lesson about the search for truth.  Look at the full picture, not just the parts; Morris was focused on the cannonballs, the angle of the sun, the clouds in the sky, and the shadows cast by the cannonballs.  None of these was the key, however.  The answer to the mystery was in plain sight but was unseen.  As Morris explains, “. . . it is the motion of the ancillary rocks  – rocks that had been kicked, nudged, displaced between the taking of one picture and the other. Rocks that no one cared about. . . Ancillary rocks, ancillary evidence – essential information.”

Morris’ quest for the truth behind the Fenton photos is a classic example of epistemology in action.  Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with how we understand reality and how we determine the difference between what is true and what is false. More than just claiming that we know something is true, epistemology challenges us to explore how we know that it is true; it also holds us accountable to explain how we determined that it is true.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What was the key to determining which of the two Fenton photos was taken first? How did Morris' exploration of the Fenton photos relate to epistemology?

Challenge - Just Gimme Some Truth:  What is the best thing that anyone ever said about truth?  Do some research on quotes about truth.  Select the one you like the best and explain why.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

April 23, 1564:  William Shakespeare was born on this day in Stratford upon Avon, England.  He died on the same day 52 years later in 1616.  Many readers and playgoers are intimidated by Shakespeare’s language, but, as the following two quotations reveal, he had a genius by stating deep philosophical insights in plain English: 

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. (From As You Like It). 

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. (From Hamlet)

Sources:  

1-Morris, Errol. “Which Came First? (Part Three): Can George, Lionel and Marmaduke Help Us Order the Fenton Photographs?” The New York Times 23 October 2007.