Josties, Silvia
Dissertation topic:
"Digital Man & Digital World."
Contact address at the University of Würzburg:
Institute of Philosophy
Ehrenhof, south wing
Residenzplatz
97070 Würzburg
First supervisor: Prof. Dr Franz-Peter Burkard
Second supervisors:
Class in the Graduate School: "Philosophy, Languages, Arts"
Doctorate in the Graduate School from WS 2021/2022.
Abstract:
The social discourse surrounding the digital revolution is as multifaceted and far-reaching as its impact on the individual world and on culture and society in the public sphere. The boundaries between digital and analogue have long since become fluid, blurring into one another and digital technologies have become deeply embedded in people's self-image. Technological progress usually means digital advancement and digitality is already happening everywhere - visibly and invisibly.
The transformative force affects different generations between digital affinity and digital technology overload and is happening so rapidly that pausing and distancing oneself from the comfort of clicks is disturbing and is perceived as backward and technophobic.
This new, complex world requires a systematic view of the digital age, of the mechanisms of change that no one can escape and that have a lasting impact on all areas of life. Digitality is more than just technological progress - it is changing the way we interact with the world, our perception of things in it and our horizons of experience, as well as human interaction, our thoughts, feelings and actions. Our digital alter ego creates data traces, follows new rules and manipulation possibilities, communicates and networks.
The aim of the dissertation is to highlight the various aspects of digitality and to analyse study results and findings from the multidisciplinary discourse under an overarching question. The project intends to develop systematic criteria such as the effort involved in digital use, effects on communicative and social behaviour, risk assessment, self-image, acceptance and sustainability in order to analyse the handling of technical innovations and to understand how these in their entirety affect both the individual and society as a living environment for individuals and can influence the human-world relationship, which mechanisms and factors play a role in this and which problems and changes have already occurred or are still to be expected. In particular, the aim is to critically examine the field of digitality, to identify common relationships between the individual research and subject areas through literature research and study analyses, to highlight the risks and potentials of the digital age and to understand the central figure of the human being in his dual role as an active shaper of the digital world and at the same time as an object and recipient who is directly affected by the transformative power of his work.
