NDLI: The computer-mediated public sphere and the cosmopolitan ideal

Please wait, while we are loading the content...

The computer-mediated public sphere and the cosmopolitan ideal

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Brothers, Robyn
Copyright Year	2000
Abstract	In response to the attractive moral and politicalmodel of cosmopolitanism, this paper offers anoverview of some of the conceptual limitations to thatmodel arising from computer-mediated, interest-basedsocial interaction. I discuss James Bohman'sdefinition of the global and cosmopolitan spheres andhow computer-mediated communication might impact thedevelopment of those spheres. Additionally, I questionthe commitment to purely rational models of socialcooperation when theorizing a computer-mediated globalpublic sphere, exploring recent alternatives. Andfinally, I discuss a few of the political andepistemic constraints on participation in thecomputer-mediated public sphere that threaten thecosmopolitan ideal.``Nature should be thanked for fostering socialincompatibility, enviously competitive vanity, andinsatiable desires for possessions and even power.Without these desires, all man's excellent naturalcapacities would never be roused to develop.'' Theultimate destiny for mankind, according to Kant whowrote these words in 1784, is to achieve through theuse of reason a `cosmopolitan existence' or ``thematrix within which all the original capacities of thehuman race may develop.'' Ironically, however, as Habermas andothers have realized, Kant's carefully developedvision for `perpetual peace' among nations and `worldcitizenship' is now murky even as the electronicallymediated infrastructure of that matrix is rapidlydeveloping. Globalization as a process has intensifiedto the point where a new social, political, andeconomic condition has taken hold in the global arena.Recently this condition has been termed ``globality'' –a term denoting a networked world characterized byspeed, mobility, risk, insecurity, andflexibility. And a debate is forming around thequestion of whether we are still in late modernity andexperiencing the culmination of modernity's inherentlyglobalizing tendency or instead we have entered thenetworked age, in which the tension between collectiveand transformative identities and the networking logicof dominant institutions and organizations heralds theend of civil society. Inthis paper assume the latter but wish to explorefurther the political and epistemic constraints onparticipation in the computer-mediated public sphere.These constraints seem certain to impact the viabilityof a cosmopolitan public sphere. In the first sectionI shall discuss James Bohman's definition of theglobal and cosmopolitan spheres and howcomputer-mediated communication (hereafter CMC) mightimpact the development of those spheres. In the secondsection, I question the commitment to purely rationalmodels of social cooperation when theorizing a globalpublic sphere. I explore recently proposed alternativeways of thinking about this issue in section three.And finally, I discuss a few of the political andepistemic constraints on participation in thecomputer-mediated public sphere that threaten thecosmopolitan ideal.
Starting Page	91
Ending Page	97
Page Count	7
File Format	PDF
ISSN	13881957
Journal	Ethics and Information Technology
Volume Number	2
Issue Number	2
e-ISSN	15728439
Language	English
Publisher	Kluwer Academic Publishers
Publisher Date	2000-01-01
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Ethics User Interfaces and Human Computer Interaction Management of Computing and Information Systems Library Science Technology Management
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Library and Information Sciences Computer Science Applications

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Indiscriminate mass surveillance and the public sphere

Information ethics: a reappraisal

Computer ethics: Future directions

Information ethics: On the philosophical foundation of computer ethics

Lyotard’s postmodern ethics and information technology

Genomics, Ethics, and ICT

Duncan Langford. Internet Ethics

Impersonal interaction and ethics on the World-Wide-Web

Common morality and computing

The computer-mediated public sphere and the cosmopolitan ideal

Similar Documents

Indiscriminate mass surveillance and the public sphere

Information ethics: a reappraisal

Computer ethics: Future directions

Information ethics: On the philosophical foundation of computer ethics

Lyotard’s postmodern ethics and information technology

Genomics, Ethics, and ICT

Duncan Langford. Internet Ethics

Impersonal interaction and ethics on the World-Wide-Web

Common morality and computing

The computer-mediated public sphere and the cosmopolitan ideal