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RafaelCapurro
Contents
Introduction
I. Some critical commentsonthree leading paradigmsof information
science
II. From thecognitive turn to the pragmaticturn
III. Informationscience ashermeneutic-rhetoricaldiscipline
Notes
References
Abstract
Introduction
of information science
-therepresentation paradigm
-the source-channel-receiver paradigm
-the Platonistic paradigm.
Allthree paradigms have a long tradition in the history of ideas, but theywere
the object of further developments in modern philosophyparticularlywith
regard to the difference between the knowing subject as a kind ofsubstance
or thing separated from the objects of knowledge(Descartes' res cogitans
vs. res extensa), which,accordingto Boss [1975,Fig. 1], led to the
subjectivist-objectivist representation of humancommunication,i.e., to the
idea, that objects of the outside world arerepresentedin the mind or brain of
a subject. Communication means, on this basis,the exchange of information
between subjects concerning theirrepresentationsof the outside world
objects. The main characteristics of thisphilosophicalparadigm are to be
found, in one way or another, in the three leadingparadigmsof our field.
Maturana and Varela's constructivism [1980],philosophicalhermeneutics
and Wittgenstein's later philosophy criticize this kind ofdichotomic thinking.
In the case of constructivist theories the outsideworld becomes formally
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determined by the structure of the living.Withininformation science similar
attempts were made, for instance, with thedevelopment of the cognitive
viewpoint. From a hermeneuticpointof view cognitivism dislocates
knowledge from social praxis.
1a/1b:body of a and b
2a/2b:brain of a and b
3a/3b:psyche (or mind or self) of a and b
4a/4brepresentation of an object (information) of the outside world
5:outside world
6:impression of (or 'in-formation' process from) the object
7:object of the outside world
8a/8b:information exchange between a and b concerning their
representationsofthe outside objects
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difficulties which arise whenthesubject/object dichotomy of modern
epistemology is taken for granted inthe cognitive turn.
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Itis easy to see that the negative forms of the informative speech,
towhichSchrader refers, cannot be considered as an essential part
ofinformationscience as long as such a science is not seen as a sub-
discipline ofrhetoric.The crucial point underlying the hermeneutic-rhetorical
paradigm ofinformationscience is neither the analogy of information as
something physical northe representation of reality within an inner sphere,
but therecognitionof the interwovenness of information and misinformation
as anexistentialdimension, i.e., as a specific human way of sharing with
others theworldopenness. Information and misinformation are, in some way,
pseudonyms,i.e. ,they are abbreviations for experiences such as "lies,
propaganda,misrepresentation, gossip, delusion, hallucination, illusion,
mistake,concealment, distortion, embellishment, innuendo, deception"
(Schrader)on the one hand, and of telling the truth, communicating publicly
ourconvictionsand ideas, looking for adaequate approaches to all kinds of
phenomena,hearing to what others have to say, letting our phantasy create
newpossibilitiesof being, developing our sense of reality, cultivating
criticalthinking,as well as other capacities such as righteousness,
openness, frankness,clarity, helpfulness, and truthfulness, on the other.
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things ofthe outside world in an encapsulated mind. To exist means, for
humanbeings,to be thrown into a field of possibilities with the capacity
ofconceiving and misconceiving not only our own (technological)
projects,but also the nature of things that bring themselves forth.
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thematize the connections of these technological mediationsto ethics and
politics.
Notes
References
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Wittgenstein,L. (1984). Philosophische Untersuchungen. Frankfurt a.M.
Copyright© 1999 by Rafael Capurro, all rights reserved. This text may
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