Overview

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.

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9781839985881

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Reviews

“Hacking Digital Ethics is a groundbreaking critique of what human right and individuality can mean in a digitally connected world where people are dependent on the infrastructure of a community. Belliger and Krieger make the case that individuals are at their best when they identify with a community and that communities are only at their best when they identify all of their individuals.”—James Felton Keith, Inclusion Researcher, Keith Institute, New York, United States “David J. Krieger and Andréa Belliger, quite literally, ‘hack’ ethics in the digital age: Rather than asking what digital ethics should look like, they pose the question of what and how ethics can be. Their answer to that question is surprising: Positing that digital ethics in its current form is little more than ‘an attempt to reassert the values, norms and regulatory regimes of Western industrial society’, the authors propose the adoption of a posthuman view of social order, and a digital ethics governed by the rules of successful networks: connectivity, flow, communication, participation, transparency, authenticity, and flexibility.” —Barbara Prainsack, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Vienna, Austria “This is a lively text written with an edge in a dashing style. It presents a mixture of outspokenly idealistic with accentuated provocative views on the contemporary digital world and its potential trajectories. The authors turn many assumptions and dogmas upside down. Thought- and debate-provoking!” —Roland Benedikter, Center for Advanced Studies, Eurac Research, Italy

Author Information

David J. Krieger is Director of the Institute for Communication & Leadership in Lucerne, Switzerland. His research focuses on new media, communication theory, semiotics, system theory, and actor-network theory. Andrea Belliger is Director of Learning Services and Pro-Rector at the University of Teacher Education Central Switzerland and is also Director of the Institute for Communication & Leadership, both in Lucerne. She is the author of many books and articles in the areas of digital transformation, new media, communication science, e-health, new work, e-learning, and fintech.

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