David J. Krieger

This book is not a critique of digital ethics but rather a hack. It follows the method of hacking by developing an exploit kit on the basis of state-of-the-art social theory, which it uses to breach the insecure legacy system upon which the discourse of digital ethics is running. This legacy system is made up of four interdependent components: the philosophical mythology of humanism, social science critique, media scandalization, and the activities of many civil society organisations lobbying for various forms of regulation. The hack exposes the bugs, the sloppy programming, and the false promises of current digital ethics, and, because it is an ethical hack, redesigns digital ethics so that it can address the problems of the global network society. The main idea of the book is that the social world of meaning is based on information, which, because of its relational nature, must be understood more as a common good than as private property. A digital ethics that relies upon humanistic individualism cannot address the issues arising from the global network society based upon information. This demands a complete revision of the philosophical foundations of current digital ethics by means of a redesign of ethics as a theory of governance by design.

This book is not a critique of digital ethics but rather a hack. It follows the method of hacking by developing an exploit kit on the basis of state-of-the-art social theory, which it uses to breach the insecure legacy system upon which the discourse of digital ethics is running. This legacy system is made up of four interdependent components: the philosophical mythology of humanism, social science critique, media scandalization, and the activities of many civil society organisations lobbying for various forms of regulation. The hack exposes the bugs, the sloppy programming, and the false promises of current digital ethics, and, because it is an ethical hack, redesigns digital ethics so that it can address the problems of the global network society. The main idea of the book is that the social world of meaning is based on information, which, because of its relational nature, must be understood more as a common good than as private property. A digital ethics that relies upon humanistic individualism cannot address the issues arising from the global network society based upon information. This demands a complete revision of the philosophical foundations of current digital ethics by means of a redesign of ethics as a theory of governance by design.

What are organizations? Where do they come from? How are they transformed and adapted to new situations? In the digital age and in the global network society, traditional theories of the organization can no longer answer these questions. Based on actor-network theory, this book explains organizations as flexible, open networks in which both human and non-human actors enter into socio-technical assemblies by constantly negotiating and re-negotiating programs of action. Organizations are not macro social structures or autonomous systems operating behind the backs of individuals. Instead, they are scalable actor-networks guided by network norms of connectivity, flow, communication, participation, authenticity, and flexibility.

By making claims for its universalism a religious community establishes its collective identity, orients itself in the world, and articulates its basic common convictions about what is real, meaningful, valuable. For those engaged in the search for a theology of religions in today's context of appreciation for radical plurality, the question is this: Can there be a single, unified theology that expresses adequately the apparently very different truths of humanity's religions? 'The New Universalism' argues that theology can no longer content itself with correlating the question which the world poses with the answer given in revelation. Within today's global horizon every religion and worldview has as much right to answer the basic questions of human existence as any other. The task confronting theology, therefore, lies in the integration and mutual appropriation of many seemingly conflicting revelations. Drawing upon the work of Panikkar and Wittgenstein, Krieger constructs a method and a philosophical foundation for resolving ideological conflicts and carrying out a theological appropriation of non-Christian religions. What is unique about Krieger's work is twofold: first, that along with mentor Raimundo Panikkar and, of course, Wilfred Smith, Krieger was among the very first to see clearly the new situation vis-a-vis plurality and to assess its consequences for theology. Secondly, and more important, while some others have dealt with the theological issues, Krieger has in this volume pursued with learning and with care the philosophical issues latent in plurality, and explored the possibility of communicative discourse across deep cultural and religious differences. This is a groundbreaking work in an area of the very greatest theological and cultural concern. --Langdon Gilkey author of 'On Niebuhr: A Theological Study' (2001) and 'Blue Twilight; Nature, Creationism, and American Religion' (2001) David J. Krieger is co-director of the Institute for Communication Research in Lucerne, Switzerland.