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Information ethics as information ecology: Connecting Frankl’s thought and fundamental informatics

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Abstract

To overcome “digital reductionism,” a new kind of mechanical view on human beings, fundamental informatics provides some critical viewpoints. It regards information as “meaning” generated in living things which do not exist alone but are parts of ecological system. On the other hand, V. E. Frankl proposed two dimensions of humans: homo sapiens and homo patiens. The latter is the essential aspect of humans whose essence is “compassion,” while the former is the nature like a mechanical machine. As features of living things, unrestricted ability of interpretation as well as inseparable relationships between others underlies both in Frankl’s thought and fundamental informatics. This viewpoint can be applied to the concept of “information literacy.”

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Acknowledgments

A previous version of this paper was presented at the international conference on “Information Ethics: Agents, Artifacts and New Cultural Perspectives” (Oxford University, UK, 8–9 December, 2005). I wish to thank the Uehiro Foundation on Ethics and Education and the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs for sponsoring the conference. I also thank the staff of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics for their helpful arrangements.

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  1. Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    Tadashi Takenouchi

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  1. Tadashi Takenouchi
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Correspondence to Tadashi Takenouchi.

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Takenouchi, T. Information ethics as information ecology: Connecting Frankl’s thought and fundamental informatics. Ethics Inf Technol 8, 187–193 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-006-9109-z

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