Introduction to Marshall McLuhan – Visual vs Acoustic Space | MMA

In Marshall McLuhan’s thought, the history of the West up to the 20th century was the history of the emergence of the visual, literate outlook, which began in the Greek city states around 500BC. Literacy was the foundation of the large city states and empires, ancient and modern, that followed; as we have seen, justice, machines and progress result from the visual, literary outlook. However, the acoustic outlook continued to exist alongside the literate in all of these entities. This is Owen Cox’ visual presentation on the visionary media shaman, Marshall McLuhan. Owen Cox uses modern art history to explain McLuhan’s theory on acoustic and visual spaces.