Thinking Otherwise: Philosophy, Communication, Technology

Ethics is customarily understood as being concerned with questions of responsibility for and in the face of an other who is like we assume ourselves to be. Such an anthropocentric presumption has been significantly challenged by computer technology, intelligent systems, virtual realities, and cybernetics, all of which introduce the possibility of others that are and remain otherwise. Thinking Otherwise investigates the unique challenges, complications, and possibilities introduced by these different forms of otherness. The author formulates alternative ways of proceeding that are able to respond to and to be responsible for these other different forms of otherness in order to generate and develop alternative ways of thinking that are and remain oriented otherwise.

David J. Gunkel is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Northern Illinois University, where he teaches and researches interactive media programming and design, communication technology, and philosophy of technology. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from DePaul University, has won awards for interactive media design.