Contributions of self-organization and complex system theory to information ethics

• Grant number: 14/03157-0
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): June 01, 2014
• Effective date (End): September 30, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - Epistemology
• Cooperation agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Itala Maria Loffredo D'Ottaviano
• Grantee: João Antonio de Moraes
• Home Institution: Centro de Lógica, Epistemologia e História da Ciência (CLE). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 10/52627-9 - Sistemics, self-organization and information, AP.TEM

Abstract

In this Research Project we will analyze the thesis according to which Complex Systems Theory and Self-Organization can contribute to the problems of Information Ethics. We understand Complex Systems Theory and Self-Organization provide a method for interdisciplinary investigation and a theoretical framework, which includes various informational dimensions in the study of events, situations or objects, among them some problems of Information Ethics. This is a branch of Philosophy of Information which has been gaining strength in recent years and, although there is no final definition, it is conceived as an area which reflects over moral challenges arising from the impact of insertion of information technology in our daily lives. Since various scholars have attempted to discover fundamental parameters that delimit borders in this new area of philosophical-interdisciplinary investigation, we will need to limit our scope, so we will focus on Luciano Floridi's Information Ethics. We will analyze, mainly, two problems in Floridi's Information Ethics, namely: P1 - What is the concept of information that delimits the scope of Information Ethics? P2 - How should we analyze the maintenance of the infosphere and evaluate the moral actions and morally eligible agents? In investigating these problems, we formulate two hypotheses, following the systemic perspective: H1 - the adoption of the concept of information proposed by Gonzalez (2013); H2 - the concept of infosphere as complex dynamical system maintained by secondary self-organization. We believe these contributions can help characterize Information Ethics and its problems, collaborating with the understanding of new branches of philosophical research in the "Information Society". (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ANTONIO DE MORAES, JOAO; BENVENUTTI DE ANDRADE, ELOISA. Who are the citizens of the digital citizenship?. INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF INFORMATION ETHICS, v. 23, p. 4-19, NOV 2015. Web of Science Citations: 1.

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

MORAES, João Antonio de. The paradigm of complexity and the information ethics. 2018. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas.