Can the internet solve the problem of mass education, and bring human
beings to a new level of community? Drawing on a diverse array of
thinkers from Plato to Kierkegaard, On the Internet argues that there
is much in common between the disembodied, free floating web and
Descartes' separation of mind and body. Hubert Dreyfus also shows how
Kierkegaard's insights into the origins of a media-obsessed public
anticipate the web surfer, blogger and chat room. Drawing on studies of
the isolation experienced by many internet users and the insights of
philosopher such as Descartes and Kierkegaard, Dreyfus shows how the
internet's privatisation of experience ignores essential human
capacities such as trust, moods, risk, shared local concerns and
commitment.
The second edition includes a brand new chapter on 'Second Life' and is
revised and updated throughout.