DIGITAL HERMENEUTICS AN OUTLINE - Capurro.pptVIP

R. Capurro: Digital Hermeneutics 2010 DIGITAL HERMENEUTICS: AN OUTLINE Rafael Capurro International Center for Information Ethics (ICIE) Distinguished Researcher in Information Ethics, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA Contents Introduction Hermeneutics and the Internet Digital Ontology and Digital Metaphysics Conclusion References Introduction We live in societies whose political, legal, military, cultural and economic systems are based on digital communication and information networks or in societies that are making major efforts to bridge the so-called digital divide Introduction May be this is one reason why hermeneutics, the philosophic theory dealing with issues of interpretation and communication, has apparently lost the academic interest it had in the nineteenth century as methodology of the humanities as well as understanding human existence in the twentieth century. Introduction Hermeneutics is facing today the challenge arising from digital technology becoming what I call digital hermeneutics. Introduction The Internet’s challenge for hermeneutics concerns primarily its social relevance for the creation, communication and interpretation of knowledge. This challenge implies a questioning of the pseudo-critical rejection of hermeneutics with regard to technology in general and to digital technology in particular Introduction Facing the digital challenge hermeneutics must develop a “productive logic” (Heidegger) towards understanding the foundations of digital technology and its interplay with human existence. Hermeneutics and the Internet As the Internet and particularly the World Wide Web became a social interactive information and communication technology in the mid-1990s the relevance of its challenge to hermeneutics became even more obvious. Hermeneutics and the Internet The leading modern pre-understanding of the engine as a metaphor for the process of social construction has been substituted by the on