“10 Theses on the Digital”
Alexander R. Galloway
5pm, Monday 14th May
Room LG02
New Academic Building
Goldsmiths, University of London
Free, All Welcome
Despite being the object of much discussion these days, the digital does
not often appear in the writings of philosophers, except perhaps when it
arrives unwittingly under the aegis of another name. The world of business
consultancy has accepted it, as has the popular and folk culture, consumer
society, telecommunications, medicine, the arts, and of course the spheres
of industrial engineering and information processing (where it plays a
special role). But is there an ontology of the digital, or even a
philosophy of it? The goal of this project is not so much to answer such
questions, but to draw up a map for what is necessary to answer them,
something like a prolegomenon for future writing on digitality and
philosophy.
What is the digital exactly? The digital means the one dividing into two.
Its heart lies in metaphysics, and adjacent philosophical systems, most
importantly dialectics. By comparison, the analogue means the two coming
together as one. It is found in theories of immanence: either the immanence
of the total plane of being, or the immanence of the individual person or
object. Either immanence in its infinity, or immanence in its finitude.
The goal, then, is not so much to produce a “philosophy of the digital”
or even a “digitization of philosophy.” Rather we will explore how
digitality and philosophy come together, as two modal conditions. They
exist both in parallel as they diverge and differentiate themselves, but
also in series as they merge and intermediate. So this project will, if it
is successful, pay attention to the conceptual requirements of the digital
(and by contrast the analogue) and the strictures and affordances it grants
to philosophy.
For directions: http://www.gold.ac.uk/find-us/
Organised by Centre for Cultural Studies
http://www.gold.ac.uk/cultural-studies/
and the Department of Media and Communications
http://www.gold.ac.uk/media-communications/
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