Philosophy of Technology and Digital Hermeneutics by Alberto Romele
The Necessity of Critique Andrew Feenberg and the Philosophy of Technology, 2022
The Necessity of Critique pp 239–253Cite as
Is Critical Constructivism Critical Enough? Towards... more The Necessity of Critique pp 239–253Cite as
Is Critical Constructivism Critical Enough? Towards an Agonistic Philosophy of Technology
Alberto Romele
Chapter
First Online: 28 September 2022
37 Accesses
2 Altmetric
Part of the Philosophy of Engineering and Technology book series (POET,volume 41)
Abstract
In this chapter, we discuss the value of Feenberg’s critical constructivism for overcoming the limitations of the dominant empirical and ethical approaches in the field of philosophy of technology. In the first section, we show the advantages of critical constructivism. From an ontological point of view, it suggests that technologies are always more than the sum of their material parts. In fact, technologies are entangled with specific forms of life and worldviews. From an ethical-political perspective, critical constructivism suggests that these forms of life or worldviews are often crystallizations of forms of domination. In the second section, we discuss the limitations of critical constructivism, which lie not so much in its theoretical elements as in its practical propositions. In particular, we discuss the residue of Habermasian rationalism in the way Feenberg proposes to implement technological democracy. In the third section, we proposed two “exit strategies,” namely, Bourdieu’s sociology and Mouffe’s agonistic approach. The first has the merit of renouncing any form of rationality in the behaviors of social groups; however, he recovers it, in a scientist and elitist manner, from the side of the social scientist. The second has the merit of making the struggle between social groups and classes a real resource for democracy. It is precisely this resource that we propose to apply to the field of the philosophy of technology.
S. Gerlek, S. Kissler, T. Maemecke et D. Moebus (dir.), Von Menschen und Machinen : Mensch-Machine-Interaktionen in digitalen Kulturen, Hagen University Press 2022, 31-49., 2022
In this chapter, I discuss portable technologies for automatic pain detection. This is the case w... more In this chapter, I discuss portable technologies for automatic pain detection. This is the case with the Federal Ministry of Education and Research LOUISA project in which I am currently involved at the University of Tübingen. LOUISA is an acronym for “learning model for multidimensional quantitative movement analysis.” The aim of the project is to develop a digital technology (an app for smartphones and smartwatches) for the automatic detection of pain through a multidimensional analysis of signs, or rather signals, traces, or clues of pain: artificial intelligence (AI)-driven analysis of emotions through facial movements, AI-driven analysis of body movements, electromyography, etc. My hypothesis is that by favoring the external or superficial traces of pain over the patient’s words and narratives, these digital technologies risk preventing the development of “intelligent habits.”
Philosophy & Technology, 2022
This paper argues that the AI ethics has generally neglected the issues related to the science co... more This paper argues that the AI ethics has generally neglected the issues related to the science communication of AI. In particular, the article focuses on visual communication about AI and, more specifically, on the use of certain stock images in science communication about AI-in particular, those characterized by an excessive use of blue color and recurrent subjects, such as androgyne faces, half-flesh and half-circuit brains, and variations on Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam. In the first section, the author refers to a "referentialist" ethics of science communication for an ethical assessment of these images. From this perspective, these images are unethical. While the ethics of science communication generally promotes virtues like modesty and humility, similar images are arrogant and overconfident. In the second section, the author uses French philosopher Jacques Rancière's concepts of "distribution of the sensible," "disagreement," and "pensive image." Rancière's thought paves the way to a deeper critique of these images of AI. The problem with similar images is not their lack of reference to the "things themselves." It rather lies in the way they stifle any possible forms of disagreement about AI. However, the author argues that stock images and other popular images of AI are not a problem per se, and they can also be a resource. This depends on the real possibility for these images to support forms of pensiveness. In the conclusion, the question is asked whether the kind of ethics or politics of AI images proposed in this article can be applied to AI ethics tout court. Keywords AI images • Stock images • AI ethics • Ethics of scientific communication • Jacques Rancière This article is part of the Topical Collection on Philosophy of Technology and the French Thought
Rowman & Littlefield, 2021
Paul Ricœur has been one of the most influential and intellectually challenging philosophers of t... more Paul Ricœur has been one of the most influential and intellectually challenging philosophers of the last century, and his work has contributed to a vast array of fields: studies of language, of history, of ethics and politics. However, he has up until recently only had a minor impact on the philosophy of technology. Interpreting Technology aims to put Ricœur’s work at the centre of contemporary philosophical thinking concerning technology. It investigates his project of critical hermeneutics for rethinking established theories of technology, the growing ethical and political impacts of technologies on the modern lifeworld, and ways of analysing global sociotechnical systems such as the Internet. Ricœur’s philosophy allows us to approach questions such as: how could narrative theory enhance our understanding of technological mediation? How can our technical practices be informed by the ethical aim of living the good life, with and for others, in just institutions? And how does the emerging global media landscape shape our sense of self, and our understanding of history? These questions are more timely than ever, considering the enormous impact technologies have on daily life in the 21st century: on how we shape ourselves with health apps, how we engage with one-another through social media, and how we act politically through digital platforms.
Discipline Filosofiche 30/2: 187-203, 2020
In this article, the author deals with the status of the self and personal identity in the digita... more In this article, the author deals with the status of the self and personal identity in the digital milieu. In the first section, he presents his general approach to digital media and technologies, which he has called "digital hermeneutics." He distinguishes between three perspectives in digital hermeneutics, namely the deconstructive, epistemological, and ontological approaches. In the second part, he focuses on digital hermeneutics as hermeneutics of the self. He compares Paul Ricoeur's narrative identity to Pierre Bourdieu's habitus. His first thesis is that the habitus can be seen as a concept of subjectivation that neglects an important part of the subject. Narrative identity offers, in this sense, a remedy to such negligence. His second thesis is that today's digital media and technologies are closer to the Bourdieusian habitus than to the Ricoeurian narrative identity. In other words, digital machines and technologies are "habitus machines" both in their structure and in their effects. In the conclusion, the author accounts for three potential responses to the habituation of our selves online. He also introduces the concepts of "digital agency" and "digital citizenship."
Foundations of Science, 2021
In this contribution, the author contends that the way in which Pieter Lemmens interprets the tra... more In this contribution, the author contends that the way in which Pieter Lemmens interprets the transcendental of technology, particularly through the work of Bernard Stiegler, is only one of the possible ways of understanding the transcendental of technology. His thesis is that there are many other transcendentals of technology besides technology itself. The task of a philosophy of technology beyond the empirical turn could precisely consist in exploring these multiple transcendentals of technology, along with their multiple relations. In the first section, the author considers and criticizes the “empirical transcendentality” that characterizes most of the current philosophical approaches to technology, in particular when it comes to ethical issues. In the second section, he proposes to include Lemmens’ perspective in a more general theory (and consequent practices) about the transcendentals of technology. The transcendentals of technology include social symbolic forms, culture, language, media, and many other dimensions that philosophy of technology has not systematically explored yet.
Humana.Mente. Journal of Philosophical Studies 37, pp. 99-126, 2020
This article aims to offer an original framework to understand the ontological structure of digit... more This article aims to offer an original framework to understand the ontological structure of digital media and technologies, along with their effects of subjectivation. In the first section, we confront Bourdieu's and Latour's social theories. Indeed, Latour and Bour-dieu offered two almost opposite social theories, and both of them can be used to understand digital media and technologies. Our hypothesis is that the digital of today is less Latourian than Bourdieusian. In the second section, we introduce the concept of digital habitus. In particular, we contend that digital machines such as algorithms of machine learning are habitus machines. Although their results present a greater granularity with respect to the standard techniques of the past, these algorithms still reduce individuals to categories, general trends, classes, and behaviors. Such a reduction has flattening effects on the individuals' self-understanding, especially in terms of identity and interaction with the social world. This is the phenomenon described as the "personalization without personality." In the third section, we look for proof of our previous insights through a qualitative and comparative analysis between three kinds of data and information visualization. More specifically, we show that contemporary techniques for data visualization with machine learning algorithms are closer to Bourdieu's use of correspondence analysis (CA) and the multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) than to Latour-inspired network visualizations.
AI & Society, 2020
The goal of this article is twofold. First, it aims at sketching the outlines of material hermene... more The goal of this article is twofold. First, it aims at sketching the outlines of material hermeneutics as a three-level analysis of technological artefacts. In the first section, we introduce Erwin Panofsky’s three levels of interpretation of an artwork, and we propose to import this approach in the field of philosophy of technology. Second, the rest of the article focuses on the third level, with a specific attention towards big data and algorithms of artificial intelligence. The thesis is that these new technologies are not only radically transforming our interactions with the world, or our modes of production and consumption, but also our worldview. In the second section, we rely on Panofsky’s Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism to describe the Scholastic “mental habit” or worldview and its principles. In the third section, we confront this worldview with the mechanistic and informationistic worldviews. Our contribution consists in arguing that (1) despite the differences, the Scholastic, mechanistic, and informationistic worldviews are part of the same logical and causal order that dominated Western epistemology, and (2) today we are facing the appearance of a new worldview that we call “data worldview”. Examples from design, architecture, and visualization of knowledge will be set all along the article.
Philosophy & Technology, 2020
This article builds on the hypothesis that theoretical approaches to philosophy of technology are... more This article builds on the hypothesis that theoretical approaches to philosophy of technology are currently stuck in a false alternative: either embrace the “empirical turn” or jump back into the determinism, pessimism, and general ignorance towards specific technologies that characterized the “humanities philosophy of technology.” A third path is however possible, which consists of articulating an empirical point of view with an interest in the symbolic dimension in which technologies and technological mediations are always already embedded. Bourdieu’s sociology of the symbolic forms represents an important and mostly unexplored resource in this respect. In this article, we introduce the notion of technological capital and its tree states—objectified, institutionalized, and embodied. In the first section, we briefly account of the empirical turn in philosophy of technology. Specific attention is then devoted to postphenomenology. We depict three perspectives in postphenomenology: (1) standard postphenomenology, in which one single human-technology-world relation at a time is considered; (2) the attempt of some technological mediation theorists to articulate postphenomenology and actor-network theory (ANT); (3) the original effort in Ihde, which is currently practiced by a minority of postphenomenologists, to combine an interest for the empirical dimension of technological mediations with an attention to the social and cultural conditions of possibility in which these mediations are embedded. In the second section, we consider some recent critiques of the limits of the empirical turn in philosophy of technology, especially related to postphenomenology. Furthermore, we argue that Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology may benefit the philosophy of technology. One might say that according to a Bourdieusian perspective, technologies are, in their invention, implementation, and use, embedded in symbolically organized interactions among social actors or groups. The notion of technological capital is introduced. A specific attention is given to its embodied state, which is related to the habitus. Such concept suggests that, to rephrase the famous sentence by Heidegger, “the essence of technology is not totally technological.” In the conclusion, we consider three risks related to a Bourdieusian approach to technology: (1) transparency, (2) determinism, and (3) absolutism.
Routledge, 2019
This is the first monograph to develop a hermeneutic approach to the digital—as both a technologi... more This is the first monograph to develop a hermeneutic approach to the digital—as both a technological milieu and a cultural phenomenon. While philosophical in its orientation, the book covers a wide body of literature across science and technology studies, media studies, digital humanities, digital sociology, cognitive science, and the study of artificial intelligence.
In the first part of the book, the author formulates an epistemological thesis according to which the “virtual never ended.” Although the frontiers between the real and the virtual are certainly more porous today, they still exist and endure. In the book’s second part, the author offers an ontological reflection on emerging digital technologies as “imaginative machines.” He introduces the concept of emagination, arguing that human schematizations are always externalized into technologies, and that human imagination has its analog in the digital dynamics of articulation between databases and algorithms. The author takes an ethical and political stance in the concluding chapter. He resorts to the notion of "digital habitus" for claiming that within the digital we are repeatedly being reconducted to an oversimplified image and understanding of ourselves.
Digital Hermeneutics will be of interest to scholars across a wide range of disciplines, including those working on philosophy of technology, hermeneutics, science and technology studies, media studies, and the digital humanities.
Journal of Posthuman Studies 3/1, 2019
The aim of this article is threefold. In the first section, the author deals with traditional her... more The aim of this article is threefold. In the first section, the author deals with traditional hermeneutic anthropocentrism, by focusing in particular on Dilthey and Heidegger and their reflections on nature and animals. For both of them, although from different perspectives, interpretatio naturae (interpretation of nature) is no more than a figurative expression. In the second section, it is accounted for recent developments in the emerging fields of environmental hermeneutics and biohermeneutics. In particular, the author distinguishes between two main attitudes. Some researchers have argued that nature might be considered as an object of interpretation. Others have said that nature can also be seen as a proper subject of interpretation. In the third section, the ideas developed in the context of environmental hermeneutics and biohermeneutics are 'translated' into the field of digital technologies. The author presents 'digital hermeneutics' as an emerging field in which three levels can be isolated: 1) a 'zero' level, in which hermeneutics (especially the Heideggerian one) has been used to mark a clear distinction between humans and non-humans (machines); 2) a level 'one,' in which the interpretation is considered the result of the articulation between human and non-human intentionalities; 3) a level 'two' that is still emerging, and which would consist of wondering if it is legitimate to attribute an autonomous interpretational agency to digital technologies, or at least to a part of them.
Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology 24/2, 2020
In this article, we show how postphenomenology can be used to analyze a visual method that reveal... more In this article, we show how postphenomenology can be used to analyze a visual method that reveals the hidden dynamics that exist between individuals within large organizations. We make use of the Affinity Map to expand the classic postphenomenology that privileges a ‘linear’ understanding of technological mediations introducing the notions of ‘iterativity’ and ‘collectivity.’ In the first section, both classic and more recent descriptions of human-technology-world relations are discussed to transcendentally approach the discipline of data visualization. In the second section, the Affinity Map case study is used to stress three elements: 1) the collection of data and the design process; 2) the visual grammar of the data visualization, and 3) the process of self-recognition for the map ‘reader.’ In the third section, we introduce the hermeneutic circle of data visualization. Finally, in the concluding section, we put forth how the Affinity Map might be seen as the material encounter between postphenomenology, actor-network theory (ANT), and hermeneutics, through ethical and political multistability.
AI & Society: Journal of Knowledge, Culture & Communication
Today, there is an emerging interest for the potential role of hermeneutics in reflecting on the ... more Today, there is an emerging interest for the potential role of hermeneutics in reflecting on the practices related to digital technologies and their consequences. Nonetheless, such an interest has not yet given
rise to a unitary approach nor to a shared debate. The primary goal of this paper is to map and synthesize the different existing perspectives in order to pave the way for an open discussion on the topic. The article is developed in two steps. In the first section, the authors analyze digital
hermeneutics “in theory” by confronting and systematizing the existing literature. In particular, they stress three main distinctions among the approaches: 1) between “methodological” and “ontological” digital hermeneutics; 2) between data- and text-oriented digital hermeneutics and 3) between“quantitative” and “qualitative” credos in digital hermeneutics. In the second section, they consider digital hermeneutics “in action”, by critically analyzing the uses of digital data (notably tweets) for
studying a classical object such as the political opinion. In the conclusion, the authors will pave the way to an ontological turn in digital hermeneutics. Most of the article is devoted to the methodological issue of interpreting with digital machines. The main task of an ontological digital hermeneutics would consist instead in wondering if it is legitimate, and eventually to which extent, to speak of digital technologies, or at least of some of them, as interpretational machines.
Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology, September, 18, 2017, online first
In philosophy of the emerging media, several scholars have insisted on the fact that the “new” of... more In philosophy of the emerging media, several scholars have insisted on the fact that the “new” of new technologies does not have much to do with communication, but rather with the exponential growth of recording. In this paper, instead, the thesis is advanced that digital technologies do not concern memory, but imagination, and more precisely what philosophers, from Kant onwards, have called productive imagination. In this paper, however, the main reference will not be Kant, but Paul Ricoeur, who explicitly refers to the Kantian productive imagination in his works, but also offered an externalized, semioticized, and historicized, interpretation of it.
The article is developed in three steps. In the first section, it deals with Ricoeur’s theory of narrative, based on the notions of mimesis and mythos. In the second section, it is first argued that human imagination is always-already extended. Second, it will be shown how mimesis and mythos are precisely the way software works. In the third section, the specificity of big data is introduced. Big data is the promise of giving our actions and existences a meaning that we are incapable of perceiving, for lack of sensibility (i.e. data) and understanding (i.e. algorithms). Scholars have used the Foucauldian concepts of panopticon and confession for describing the human condition in the digital age. In the conclusion, it is argued that big data makes any form of disclosure unnecessary. Big data is an ensemble of technological artifacts, methods, techniques, practices, institutions, and forms of knowledge aiming at taking over the way someone narratively accounts for himself or herself before the others. Hence, another Foucauldian notion is representative of this age: the parrhesia, to speak candidly, and to take a risk in speaking the truth, insofar as such a possibility is anesthetized.
Surveillance & Society 15/2 (2017)
This article aims to integrate the existing theoretical framework for thinking the power relation... more This article aims to integrate the existing theoretical framework for thinking the power relations between individuals and sociotechnical systems in social media. In the first section, the authors show how Panopticism found breeding ground in social media studies. Yet they claim that despite an expanding critical literature, not much seems to be changing in prosumers’ practices online. Their hypothesis is that this is happening not only because individuals are forced or cheated by the sociotechnical systems, as it has been usually argued, but also because they voluntarily submit to them. For this reason, in the second section, the authors introduce the notion of voluntary servitude, coined by Étienne de la Boétie in the XVIth century. Voluntary servitude is a paradoxical notion because it represents the attempt of tidying up two opposite facts: human beings’ will of freedom and their reiterated submission. In the third section, they make the notion operative in the context of social media by focusing on privacy as the counter-discourse of surveillance. In conclusion, the authors deal with the emancipatory character of voluntary servitude, as well as with the concept of subjectivity it entails.
Theory, Culture & Society 33/5 (2016)
This article discusses the value of gift exchange in online social media. In the first part, the ... more This article discusses the value of gift exchange in online social media. In the first part, the authors show how most of the commentators have considered online gifting as an alternative to the classical market economy. Yet the recent (re)territorialization of the web challenges this perspective. As a consequence, the internet can no longer be considered a reply to capitalism. In the second part, the authors argue that in anthropology and social philosophy the term ‘gift’ has often been used improperly, and that gift exchange has nothing to do with goods exchange, but with mutual recognition. In the third part, they use this definition to stress the importance of gift circulation through Facebook’s ‘Like’ button and the Twitter feature called ‘Mention’. In conclusion, the authors deal with the ‘Like economy’, i.e. the interference between gift exchange and market economy which is daily at work online.
Policy & Internet 8/3 (2016)
In recent years, decision makers have reported difficulties in the use of official statistics in ... more In recent years, decision makers have reported difficulties in the use of official statistics in public policy: excessively long publication delays, insufficient coverage of topics of interest, and the top-down process of data creation. The deluge of data available online represents a potential answer to these problems, with social media data in particular as a possible alternative to traditional data. In this article, we propose a definition of “Soft Data” to indicate data that are freely available on the Internet, and that are not controlled by a public administration but rather by public or private actors. The term Soft Data is not intended to replace those of “Big Data” and “Open Data,” but rather to highlight specific properties and research methods required to convert them into information of interest for decision makers. The analysis is based on a case study of Twitter data for urban policymaking carried out for a European research program aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of European cohesion policy. The article explores methodological issues and the possible impact of “Soft Data” on public policy, reporting on semistructured interviews carried out with nine European policymakers.
This book provides new theoretical approaches to the subject of virtuality. All chapters reflect ... more This book provides new theoretical approaches to the subject of virtuality. All chapters reflect the importance of extending the analysis of the concept of “the virtual” to areas of knowledge that, until today, have not been fully included in its philosophical foundations. The respective chapters share new insights on art, media, psychic systems and technology, while also presenting new ways of articulating the concept of the virtual with regard to the main premises of Western thought.
Given its thematic scope, this book is intended not only for a philosophical audience, but also for all scientists who have turned to the humanities in search of answers to their questions.
Ces dernières années, les nouvelles technologies ont profondément changé les territoires. Ce qui ... more Ces dernières années, les nouvelles technologies ont profondément changé les territoires. Ce qui rend ce changement particulièrement intéressant est le fait qu’il affecte à la fois les territoires dans leurs matérialités et la façon de les étudier et de les gérer. Les médias numériques sont intéressants dans la mesure où toute interaction qui les traverse laisse des traces qui peuvent être enregistrées, analysées et visualisées. Cette traçabilité intrinsèque promet, si contrôlée par une méthodologie adéquate, de fournir une source nouvelle de données pour l’étude des territoires. Face à l’abondance de ces nouveaux types de données, plusieurs études empiriques ont été réalisées, mais une réflexion théorique sur l’emploi de ces données dans les études territoriales est encore faible.
Cet ouvrage vise à développer une réflexion partagée sur les questions liées à l’emploi des traces numériques dans les études territoriales. Trois questions seront abordées. Une première a trait aux méthodes digitales, dont un nouveau groupe a été récemment développé pour traiter ce type de données. Il est aujourd’hui nécessaire de conduire une réflexion critique sur ces méthodes et notamment sur les implications de leur emploi dans des études territoriales. L’ouvrage se plonge ensuite sur des questions plus théoriques soulevées par la rencontre des traces et des territoires. Entre autres, un des éléments les plus problématiques dans l’application de ces méthodes est la gestion des rapports de continuité et discontinuité entre trace numérique et espace. Enfin, cet ouvrage se confronte aux conséquences de l’utilisation des traces numériques pour l’aménagement et la gestion des territoires. Aujourd’hui, le décideur public doit intégrer les données traditionnelles aux nouvelles données générées, selon une approche bottom-up, par les acteurs du Web 2.0. On assiste ainsi à l’avènement d’un nouvel impératif participatif dans l’élaboration et la mise en œuvre des politiques territoriales.
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Philosophy of Technology and Digital Hermeneutics by Alberto Romele
Is Critical Constructivism Critical Enough? Towards an Agonistic Philosophy of Technology
Alberto Romele
Chapter
First Online: 28 September 2022
37 Accesses
2 Altmetric
Part of the Philosophy of Engineering and Technology book series (POET,volume 41)
Abstract
In this chapter, we discuss the value of Feenberg’s critical constructivism for overcoming the limitations of the dominant empirical and ethical approaches in the field of philosophy of technology. In the first section, we show the advantages of critical constructivism. From an ontological point of view, it suggests that technologies are always more than the sum of their material parts. In fact, technologies are entangled with specific forms of life and worldviews. From an ethical-political perspective, critical constructivism suggests that these forms of life or worldviews are often crystallizations of forms of domination. In the second section, we discuss the limitations of critical constructivism, which lie not so much in its theoretical elements as in its practical propositions. In particular, we discuss the residue of Habermasian rationalism in the way Feenberg proposes to implement technological democracy. In the third section, we proposed two “exit strategies,” namely, Bourdieu’s sociology and Mouffe’s agonistic approach. The first has the merit of renouncing any form of rationality in the behaviors of social groups; however, he recovers it, in a scientist and elitist manner, from the side of the social scientist. The second has the merit of making the struggle between social groups and classes a real resource for democracy. It is precisely this resource that we propose to apply to the field of the philosophy of technology.
In the first part of the book, the author formulates an epistemological thesis according to which the “virtual never ended.” Although the frontiers between the real and the virtual are certainly more porous today, they still exist and endure. In the book’s second part, the author offers an ontological reflection on emerging digital technologies as “imaginative machines.” He introduces the concept of emagination, arguing that human schematizations are always externalized into technologies, and that human imagination has its analog in the digital dynamics of articulation between databases and algorithms. The author takes an ethical and political stance in the concluding chapter. He resorts to the notion of "digital habitus" for claiming that within the digital we are repeatedly being reconducted to an oversimplified image and understanding of ourselves.
Digital Hermeneutics will be of interest to scholars across a wide range of disciplines, including those working on philosophy of technology, hermeneutics, science and technology studies, media studies, and the digital humanities.
rise to a unitary approach nor to a shared debate. The primary goal of this paper is to map and synthesize the different existing perspectives in order to pave the way for an open discussion on the topic. The article is developed in two steps. In the first section, the authors analyze digital
hermeneutics “in theory” by confronting and systematizing the existing literature. In particular, they stress three main distinctions among the approaches: 1) between “methodological” and “ontological” digital hermeneutics; 2) between data- and text-oriented digital hermeneutics and 3) between“quantitative” and “qualitative” credos in digital hermeneutics. In the second section, they consider digital hermeneutics “in action”, by critically analyzing the uses of digital data (notably tweets) for
studying a classical object such as the political opinion. In the conclusion, the authors will pave the way to an ontological turn in digital hermeneutics. Most of the article is devoted to the methodological issue of interpreting with digital machines. The main task of an ontological digital hermeneutics would consist instead in wondering if it is legitimate, and eventually to which extent, to speak of digital technologies, or at least of some of them, as interpretational machines.
The article is developed in three steps. In the first section, it deals with Ricoeur’s theory of narrative, based on the notions of mimesis and mythos. In the second section, it is first argued that human imagination is always-already extended. Second, it will be shown how mimesis and mythos are precisely the way software works. In the third section, the specificity of big data is introduced. Big data is the promise of giving our actions and existences a meaning that we are incapable of perceiving, for lack of sensibility (i.e. data) and understanding (i.e. algorithms). Scholars have used the Foucauldian concepts of panopticon and confession for describing the human condition in the digital age. In the conclusion, it is argued that big data makes any form of disclosure unnecessary. Big data is an ensemble of technological artifacts, methods, techniques, practices, institutions, and forms of knowledge aiming at taking over the way someone narratively accounts for himself or herself before the others. Hence, another Foucauldian notion is representative of this age: the parrhesia, to speak candidly, and to take a risk in speaking the truth, insofar as such a possibility is anesthetized.
Given its thematic scope, this book is intended not only for a philosophical audience, but also for all scientists who have turned to the humanities in search of answers to their questions.
Cet ouvrage vise à développer une réflexion partagée sur les questions liées à l’emploi des traces numériques dans les études territoriales. Trois questions seront abordées. Une première a trait aux méthodes digitales, dont un nouveau groupe a été récemment développé pour traiter ce type de données. Il est aujourd’hui nécessaire de conduire une réflexion critique sur ces méthodes et notamment sur les implications de leur emploi dans des études territoriales. L’ouvrage se plonge ensuite sur des questions plus théoriques soulevées par la rencontre des traces et des territoires. Entre autres, un des éléments les plus problématiques dans l’application de ces méthodes est la gestion des rapports de continuité et discontinuité entre trace numérique et espace. Enfin, cet ouvrage se confronte aux conséquences de l’utilisation des traces numériques pour l’aménagement et la gestion des territoires. Aujourd’hui, le décideur public doit intégrer les données traditionnelles aux nouvelles données générées, selon une approche bottom-up, par les acteurs du Web 2.0. On assiste ainsi à l’avènement d’un nouvel impératif participatif dans l’élaboration et la mise en œuvre des politiques territoriales.
Is Critical Constructivism Critical Enough? Towards an Agonistic Philosophy of Technology
Alberto Romele
Chapter
First Online: 28 September 2022
37 Accesses
2 Altmetric
Part of the Philosophy of Engineering and Technology book series (POET,volume 41)
Abstract
In this chapter, we discuss the value of Feenberg’s critical constructivism for overcoming the limitations of the dominant empirical and ethical approaches in the field of philosophy of technology. In the first section, we show the advantages of critical constructivism. From an ontological point of view, it suggests that technologies are always more than the sum of their material parts. In fact, technologies are entangled with specific forms of life and worldviews. From an ethical-political perspective, critical constructivism suggests that these forms of life or worldviews are often crystallizations of forms of domination. In the second section, we discuss the limitations of critical constructivism, which lie not so much in its theoretical elements as in its practical propositions. In particular, we discuss the residue of Habermasian rationalism in the way Feenberg proposes to implement technological democracy. In the third section, we proposed two “exit strategies,” namely, Bourdieu’s sociology and Mouffe’s agonistic approach. The first has the merit of renouncing any form of rationality in the behaviors of social groups; however, he recovers it, in a scientist and elitist manner, from the side of the social scientist. The second has the merit of making the struggle between social groups and classes a real resource for democracy. It is precisely this resource that we propose to apply to the field of the philosophy of technology.
In the first part of the book, the author formulates an epistemological thesis according to which the “virtual never ended.” Although the frontiers between the real and the virtual are certainly more porous today, they still exist and endure. In the book’s second part, the author offers an ontological reflection on emerging digital technologies as “imaginative machines.” He introduces the concept of emagination, arguing that human schematizations are always externalized into technologies, and that human imagination has its analog in the digital dynamics of articulation between databases and algorithms. The author takes an ethical and political stance in the concluding chapter. He resorts to the notion of "digital habitus" for claiming that within the digital we are repeatedly being reconducted to an oversimplified image and understanding of ourselves.
Digital Hermeneutics will be of interest to scholars across a wide range of disciplines, including those working on philosophy of technology, hermeneutics, science and technology studies, media studies, and the digital humanities.
rise to a unitary approach nor to a shared debate. The primary goal of this paper is to map and synthesize the different existing perspectives in order to pave the way for an open discussion on the topic. The article is developed in two steps. In the first section, the authors analyze digital
hermeneutics “in theory” by confronting and systematizing the existing literature. In particular, they stress three main distinctions among the approaches: 1) between “methodological” and “ontological” digital hermeneutics; 2) between data- and text-oriented digital hermeneutics and 3) between“quantitative” and “qualitative” credos in digital hermeneutics. In the second section, they consider digital hermeneutics “in action”, by critically analyzing the uses of digital data (notably tweets) for
studying a classical object such as the political opinion. In the conclusion, the authors will pave the way to an ontological turn in digital hermeneutics. Most of the article is devoted to the methodological issue of interpreting with digital machines. The main task of an ontological digital hermeneutics would consist instead in wondering if it is legitimate, and eventually to which extent, to speak of digital technologies, or at least of some of them, as interpretational machines.
The article is developed in three steps. In the first section, it deals with Ricoeur’s theory of narrative, based on the notions of mimesis and mythos. In the second section, it is first argued that human imagination is always-already extended. Second, it will be shown how mimesis and mythos are precisely the way software works. In the third section, the specificity of big data is introduced. Big data is the promise of giving our actions and existences a meaning that we are incapable of perceiving, for lack of sensibility (i.e. data) and understanding (i.e. algorithms). Scholars have used the Foucauldian concepts of panopticon and confession for describing the human condition in the digital age. In the conclusion, it is argued that big data makes any form of disclosure unnecessary. Big data is an ensemble of technological artifacts, methods, techniques, practices, institutions, and forms of knowledge aiming at taking over the way someone narratively accounts for himself or herself before the others. Hence, another Foucauldian notion is representative of this age: the parrhesia, to speak candidly, and to take a risk in speaking the truth, insofar as such a possibility is anesthetized.
Given its thematic scope, this book is intended not only for a philosophical audience, but also for all scientists who have turned to the humanities in search of answers to their questions.
Cet ouvrage vise à développer une réflexion partagée sur les questions liées à l’emploi des traces numériques dans les études territoriales. Trois questions seront abordées. Une première a trait aux méthodes digitales, dont un nouveau groupe a été récemment développé pour traiter ce type de données. Il est aujourd’hui nécessaire de conduire une réflexion critique sur ces méthodes et notamment sur les implications de leur emploi dans des études territoriales. L’ouvrage se plonge ensuite sur des questions plus théoriques soulevées par la rencontre des traces et des territoires. Entre autres, un des éléments les plus problématiques dans l’application de ces méthodes est la gestion des rapports de continuité et discontinuité entre trace numérique et espace. Enfin, cet ouvrage se confronte aux conséquences de l’utilisation des traces numériques pour l’aménagement et la gestion des territoires. Aujourd’hui, le décideur public doit intégrer les données traditionnelles aux nouvelles données générées, selon une approche bottom-up, par les acteurs du Web 2.0. On assiste ainsi à l’avènement d’un nouvel impératif participatif dans l’élaboration et la mise en œuvre des politiques territoriales.
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