This cutting edge volume provides an overview of the dynamic new field of cyberphilosophy – the intersection of philosophy and computing.

In CyberPhilosophy: The Intersection of Philosophy and Computing, edited by James H. Moor and Terrell Ward Bynum (Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 2002), 66-77. Also in Metaphilosophy 33.1/2 (2002): 70-82.

Computational and information‐theoretic research in philosophy has become increasingly fertile and pervasive, giving rise to a wealth of interesting results. In consequence, a new and vitally important field has emerged, the philosophy of information (PI). This essay is the first attempt to analyse the nature of PI systematically. PI is defined as the philosophical field concerned with the critical investigation of the conceptual nature and basic principles of information, including its dynamics, utilisation, and sciences, and the elaboration and application of (...) information‐theoretic and computational methodologies to philosophical problems. I argue that PI is a mature discipline for three reasons: it represents an autonomous field of research; it provides an innovative approach to both traditional and new philosophical topics; and it can stand beside other branches of philosophy, offering a systematic treatment of the conceptual foundations of the world of information and the information society. (shrink)

In diesem Band legt der bis zuletzt in Münster lehrende Philosoph und katholische Theologe Klaus Müller einen Gesamtentwurf seines Denkens und Schaffens vor. In seinem Plädoyer für einen kritischen Panentheismus präsentiert er nicht nur die große Bandbreite seiner Forschungsthemen, wie Subjektphilosophie und Selbstbewusstseinstheorie, das Verhältnis von Glauben und Vernunft, Medientheorie und Cyberphilosophie, sondern er spitzt sie hier auf die Gottesfrage zu, die immer schon sein Lebensthema war. Wie kann heute eine intellektuell redliche Rede von Gott gelingen, ohne sich solcher Begriffe (...) wie Schöpfer, Personalität Gottes oder Freiheit des Menschen zu entledigen? Ausgehend von einer Zeitdiagnose, die diese und andere Herausforderungen der christlichen Gottesrede aufdeckt, zeigt sich, dass der hier entfaltete Lösungsvorschlag unter dem Label "Panentheismus" bereits aus zahlreichen verschütteten oder vernachlässigten Quellen unterschiedlicher Epochen schöpfen kann. Ausführlich lotet der Band das theologische Wagnis dieser Denkform aus, insofern er die Konsequenzen eines kritischen Panentheismus und die einhergehenden Transformationsprozesse im Blick auf Trinität, Christologie, Pneumatologie, Schöpfungslehre, Theodizee, Ekklesiologie, Eschatologie entfaltet. Auf beeindruckende Weise legt Klaus Müller in diesem Werk das Potential eines kritischen Panentheismus für Philosophie und Theologie, aber auch für den persönlichen Glauben eines Einzelnen frei. (shrink)

John Locke is often understood as the inaugurator of the modern discussion of personal human identity—a discussion that inevitably falls back on his own theory with its critical reliance on memory. David Hume and Sigmund Freud would later make arguments for what constituted personal identity, both relying, like Locke, on memory, but parting from Locke's company in respect the role that memory played. The purpose of this paper will be to sketch the groundwork for Locke's own theory of personal identity (...) and consider some common objections tied to his special reliance on memory. Then, we will investigate the extent to which Hume and Freud refined their respective concepts of self-identity in ways that escape some of the most intractable objections to Locke's theory in its dependence on memory. Finally, we will consider which theorist's conception of self-identity best accords with our notion of the cyber-self, or psychological subjectivity in the context of cyberspace. For Locke, the nature of self-identity is that it is continuous across time, and to remain uninterrupted it must be beholden to a psychological process, rather than a material or immaterial substance. (shrink)