Komunikologia znaturalizowana
Communicology Naturalized

Author(s): Jan Pleszczyński
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Communication studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: philosophy of communication; communicology; naturalism; ratiomorphism; technoratiomorphism
Summary/Abstract: In the article, I present an outline of a certain philosophical theory of communication; I call it naturalized communicology. This concept heavily emphasizes biological determinants of communication, which are always present in communication processes and phenomena. My goal is to show that contemporary communication—which is becoming more and more connected with modern media technologies—is conducive to, and acts as a catalyst for, a manifestation of surplus ratiomorphism (a term I borrowed from Konrad Lorenz’s evolutionary epistemology) in the human world. Online hate, fake news, post-truth, and even the “publish or perish” principle can be treated as corollaries of this ratiomorphic surplus. At the same time, I indicate that a brand new phenomenon, unknown in the pre-Internet epochs of communication, is manifesting in the sphere of intersubjectivity. Through analogy to the biological ratiomorphism, I call this phenomenon technoratiomorphism or technological ratiomorphism, because it transpires that the mechanisms modern digital technologies are based on show a lot of analogies with ratiomorphic mechanisms.

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