Keywords

Phenomenology, Texts and Technology, Hybridity, Digital Media

Abstract

The subject of my dissertation is how phenomenology can be used as a tool for understanding the intersection between texts and technology. What I am suggesting here is that, specifically in connection with the focus of our program in Texts and Technology, there are very significant questions concerning how digital communications technology extends our humanity, and more importantly what kind of epistemological and ontological questions are raised because of this. There needs to be a coherent theory for Texts and Technology that will help us to understand this shift, and I feel that this should be the main focus for the program itself. In this dissertation I present an analysis of the different phenomenological aspects of the study of Texts and Technology. For phenomenologists such as Husserl, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty, technology, in all of its forms, is the way in which human consciousness is embodied. Through the creation and manipulation of technology, humanity extends itself into the physical world. Therefore, I feel we must try to understand this extension as more than merely a reflection of materialist practices, because first and foremost we are discussing how the human mind uses technology to further its advancement. I will detail some of the theoretical arguments both for and against the study of technology as a function of human consciousness. I will focus on certain issues, such as problems of archiving and copyright, as central to the field. I will further argue how from a phenomenological standpoint we are in the presence of a phenomenological shift from the primacy of print towards a more hybrid system of representing human communications.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2008

Advisor

Grajeda, Anthony

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

English

Degree Program

Texts and Technology

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0002181

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0002181

Language

English

Release Date

April 2009

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

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