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On the Internet (Thinking in Action) [Paperback]

Hubert L. Dreyfus
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

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Book Description

December 17, 2008 0415775167 978-0415775168 2

Can the internet solve the problem of mass education, and bring human beings to a new level of community? Drawing on a diverse array of thinkers from Plato to Kierkegaard, On the Internet argues that there is much in common between the disembodied, free floating web and Descartes' separation of mind and body. Hubert Dreyfus also shows how Kierkegaard's insights into the origins of a media-obsessed public anticipate the web surfer, blogger and chat room. Drawing on studies of the isolation experienced by many internet users and the insights of philosopher such as Descartes and Kierkegaard, Dreyfus shows how the internet's privatisation of experience ignores essential human capacities such as trust, moods, risk, shared local concerns and commitment.

The second edition includes a brand new chapter on ‘Second Life’ and is revised and updated throughout. 


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Editorial Reviews

Review

...sharp and stimulating discussion of the promises of the Intenet. Going beyond the hype of the cybercrowd, Dreyfus a celebrated writer on philosophy and technology, asks whether the Internet can really bring humanity to a new level of community and solve the problems of mass education. Dreyfus' critique of huper learning provides much food for thought and raises the level of the discussions amongst concerned educators and technologists.
First Monday

A clear discussion of the promises of the Internet...brings a philosopher's eye to bear on an issue that affects all of us..
Ubiquity

Interesting and definitely much needed...a short and thought provoking book that can be read by any net enthusiast and/or scholar who is interested in the topics of learning, knowledge and identity in relation to the Internet..
Humanist

At a time when bookstores and magazine stands are saturated with titles about the internet, it comes as no small, blessed relief to read one that is actually interesting and realistic, whose arguments are worth thinking about and engaging with Whether you're a novice to the internet or someone deeply involved with it - as a user or developer - On the Internet will engage you in topics ranging from the seemingly mundane (hyperlinks) to current trends toward distance learning..
Tech Directions

This book is an important addition to the growing literature on the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet.
Revue Philosophique --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Hubert Dreyfus is Professor of Philosophy in the Graduate School at the University of California at Berkeley, USA.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 192 pages
  • Publisher: Routledge; 2 edition (December 17, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0415775167
  • ISBN-13: 978-0415775168
  • Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 7.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #410,767 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hubert Dreyfus is Professor of Philosophy in the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley. After receiving his Ph.D. from Harvard University, he taught at MIT, before coming to Berkeley in l968. Dreyfus has been a Guggenheim Fellow, and has received research grants from both the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He holds a Doctorate Honoris Causa from Erasmus University, Rotterdam, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
You can follow him on Twitter @hubertdreyfus; or on Facebook at "All Things Shining".

Customer Reviews

The Internet is the best means to escape from reality. A. Sutono, a.k.a., Birdey The Observer  |  2 reviewers made a similar statement
This fascinating discovery shows that the Internet has profound and unexpected effects. Arun Kumar  |  1 reviewer made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
49 of 51 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The attraction and dangers of Internet Platonism August 2, 2001
Format:Paperback
The Internet Book raises the following questions: Can we leave our vulnerable bodies while preserving relevance, learning, reality, and meaning? The latest book of Hubert Dreyfus examines in complete details the various perspectives -of the Net through the eyes of a Philosopher -the attraction of life on the Internet as a way of achieving Plato's dream of overcoming space and time as well as bodily finitude. Drawing on philosophers such as Soren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Hubert Dreyfus discussed and seriously criticised the Net. In his criticism in the book, he explaines -that, in spite of its attraction, the more one lives one's life through the Net the more loses a sense of what is relevant, and so faces the problem of finding the information one is seeking. Also, in spite of economic attraction of distance learning, such learning by substituting telepresence for real presence (how much presence is delivered by the telepresence?), leaves no place for risk-taking an apprenticeship which plays a crucial role in all types of skill acquisition. Furthermore, without a sense of bodily vulnerability, one looses a sense of reality of the physical world and one's sense that one can trust other people. Finally, he discusses while the anonymity of the Net makes possible experimentation, the overall effect of the NET is to undermine commitment (what Kierkegaard spelled out in The Present Age) thus to deprive life of any serious meaning.

This fascinating discovery shows that the Internet has profound and unexpected effects. Presumably, it affects people in ways that are different than the way most tools do because it can become the main way someone relates to the rest of the world. Given the surprises and disappointments through the Net, Hubert Dreyfus explores the question, what are the benefits and the dangers of living our lives on line?

In the Internet book-the author tried to give answers in greater depth to the questions, which is important in field of humanities and Philosophy -that why reach beyond ourselves and our humanity? Why seek to become posthuman? Why not accept our human limits and renounce transcendence?

In my view, the book On the Internet discusses in greater depth the important question How does the Dreyfus's Skill developmental model and his non-representational learning relate to the Internet-facilitated education!

The book is divided into four chapters:

Chapter 1. Hyperlinks -In this chapter The hype about hyper-links Professor Dreyfus discusses the hope for intelligent information retrieval and the failure of AI. He raises one good question, how the actual shape and movement of our bodies plays a crucial role in grounding meaning so that loss of embodiment leads to loss of relevance.

Chapter 2. Distance-Learning -In this chapter, How far is Distance Learning from Education? Hubert Dreyfus discusses the importance of mattering and attunement for teaching and learning skills and phenomenology of skill acquisition. Apprenticeship and the need for imitation. "Without involvement and presence -he said we cannot acquire skills."

Chapter 3. Telepresence -The chapter, Disembodied Telepresence and the remoteness of the Real will let us know about -the body as source of our presence of causal embedding and attunement to mood. Hubert Dreyfus raises a question, how loss of background coping and attunement leads to loss of sense of reality of people and things. (I see something like you, but I don't see you and I hear something like you, but I don't hear you)

Chapter 4. Nihilism -The last chapter (most important), Nihilism on the Information Highway: Anonymity vs. commitment in the Present Age discusses in details about the meaning, requires commitment and real commitment requires real risks. The anonymity and safety of virtual commitments on-line, leads to loss of meaning. In this chapter, Prof. Dreyfus translates the Soren Kierkegaardian view of The Present Age to the Net.

Professor Dreyfus translates Kierkegaard's account of the dangers and opportunities of what Kierkegaard called the Press into a critique of the Internet so as to raise the question: what contribution -- for good or ill -- can the World Wide Web, with its ability to deliver vast amounts of information to users all over the world, make to educators trying to pass on knowledge and to develop skills and wisdom in their students? He then elaborates Kierkegaard's three-stage answer to the problem of lack of involvement posed by the Press -- Kierkegaard claim that to have a meaningful life the learner must pass through the aesthetic, the ethical and the religious spheres of existence -- to suggest that only the first two stages -- the aesthetic and the ethical -- can be implemented with Information Technology and Net, while the final stage, which alone makes meaningful learning possible, is undermined rather than supported by the tendencies of the desituated and anonymous Net.

In the aesthetic sphere, the aesthete avoids commitments and lives in the categories of the interesting and the boring and wants to see as many interesting sights (sites) as possible. In the ethical sphere we would reach a `despair of possibility' brought on by the ease of making and unmaking commitments on the Net. Only in the religious sphere is nihilism overcome by making a risky, unconditional commitment. Dreyfus concludes that only by working closely with students in a shared situation in the real world can teachers with strong identities, ready to take risks to preserve their commitments, pass on their passion and skill to their students. In this shared context students can turn information into knowledge and practical wisdom.

The risk-free anonymity of the Internet, Dreyfus said, makes it a good medium for slander, innuendo, endless gossip, and ultimately, boredom. "Without some way of telling the relevant from the irrelevant and the significant from the insignificant, everything becomes equally interesting and equally boring." He later argued, "The nihilistic pull of the new network culture doesn't prohibit such personal commitment but does inhibit.

As a philosopher Professor Hubert Dreyfus expresses his concern in not going to become involved in criticizing some specific uses of the Internet and defending others. His question is a more speculative one: What if the Net became central in our lives? What if it becomes what Joseph Nye, dean of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government calls an "irresistible alternative culture?" To the extent that we came to live a large part of our lives on the line, would we become super or infra human? In seeking an answer, to above questions, Hubert Dreyfus ellaborates..that..we should remain open to the possibility that, when we enter cyberspace and leave behind our animal-shaped, emotional, intuitive, situated, vulnerable, embodied selves, and thereby gain a remarkable new freedom never before available to human beings, we might, at the same time, necessarily lose our ability to distinguish relevant from irrelevant information, lack a sense of the seriousness of success and failure necessary for learning, lose our sense of being causally embedded in the world and, along with it, our sense of reality, and, finally, be tempted to avoid the risk of genuine commitment, and so lose our sense of what is significant or meaningful in our lives. In greater depth, the Internet book discusses the hope that if our body goes, so does relevance, skill, reality, and meaning. If that is the trade-off, the prospect of living our lives in and through the Web may not be so attractive after all.

The book is highly recommended to educators, techno philosophers and techno enthusiasts. Thank you.

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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Existentialistic Pessimism June 30, 2001
Format:Paperback
Books on the Internet abound these days, but there are few which take serious philosophical approaches to this important technology. This book is a welcome exception. Referring to Existentialistic thinkers such as Kierkegaard, the author discusses how the anonymity and ubiquity of the Internet will affect our involvement with the "World." He argues that the absence of physical body, locality, and concreteness in the Internet communication will invite the loss of our commitmentted action, ultimately leading to "despair." This arguement is particularly interesting when it is compared with the rather positive view to the rational "public sphere" advocated by Habermas and others.

I would recommend this book to anybody who cares about the implications of the Internet for our life.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting, provocative, little book January 14, 2006
Format:Paperback
Dreyfus is a Heidegger scholar who is also known for his books explaining "why computers can't think." This short (it can be read in an evening), provocative book discusses some of the problems of reliance on the Internet as a source of information and an educational forum, in a way that is interestingly informed by Dreyfus's study of Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty. I highly recommend this book both to students of Continental philosophy (the author's use of Kierkegaard to argue against Habermas's notion of the "public sphere" as the locus of a meaningfully participatory democracy is especially provocative) and to anyone who has ever wondered whether the Internet really is making our lives better. Dreyfus explains why and how it may not be.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Can't Wait to Find the Time to Read it!
Since I am by nature a curious person and love input and intellection the INTERNET is my "Knowledge/Info PIMP". Read more
Published 9 months ago by Gilbert Adams
2.0 out of 5 stars Dryfus fails to see the benefit the Internet brings as a research...
Hubert Dreyfus has attempted to take the Internet and its infinite and astronomically diverse uses and summarize it into a 134-page book. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Mike Pettengill
5.0 out of 5 stars Some Hard Facts about the Internet
Despite a favorable finding that Internet has made life better (p. 137), at least one other survey indicates the opposite that it leads to greater isolation, indifference (p. Read more
Published on March 4, 2011 by A. Sutono, a.k.a., Birdey The Observer
4.0 out of 5 stars A good start to an interesting topic
Is the Internet diminishing or enhancing community? Does the Word Wide Web help us feel more connected or less? Read more
Published on March 18, 2010 by Luke Gilkerson
5.0 out of 5 stars A probing and valuable study
In this book, Hubert Dreyfus presents a philosophical study of how the Internet experientially impacts our lives. Read more
Published on January 16, 2010 by Irfan A. Alvi
4.0 out of 5 stars Leaving the Body Behind
In this short essay, Hubert Dreyfus claims the authority of three philosophers. Friedrich Nietzsche teaches that "Man is something to be overcome", but he also warns the "despisers... Read more
Published on January 17, 2009 by Etienne ROLLAND-PIEGUE
4.0 out of 5 stars A Forewarning Regarding an Impending Cyber Future
Hubert L. Dreyfus outlines a deep philosophical analysis regarding the repercussions of the Internet on our culture in this essayistic book. Read more
Published on November 19, 2008 by Michael Patten
5.0 out of 5 stars Being on the 'Net
Flat out: this is a short read that should be required of anyone attempting to understand the society/technology interface. Read more
Published on October 27, 2008 by Eric B. Wolf
4.0 out of 5 stars Kierkegaard surfs prodigiously...
This is a very little book dealing with a very big subject: does the internet add or detract from meaning in our lives? Read more
Published on May 24, 2003 by ewomack
4.0 out of 5 stars From Plato to the net..The early fears.
"On the internet",written by H.L Dreyfus a professor at Berkley is one of the very few books on the market approaching the "net" from a philosophical point of... Read more
Published on April 7, 2003 by Takis Tz.
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