(Ebook) Philosophical Frameworks for Understanding Information Systems by Andrew Basden ISBN 9781599040363, 9781599040387, 1599040360, 1599040387

(Ebook) Philosophical Frameworks for Understanding Information Systems by Andrew Basden ISBN 9781599040363, 9781599040387, 1599040360, 1599040387

Andrew Basden's book applies the unsung but powerful philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd to `the whole story that is information technology'. It is a radical and integral vision of information technology, not a reductionist view. The author, writing from his firm Christian belief, offers his view of Dooyeweerd in a open-minded way for scholars of all convictions, inviting them to use Dooyeweerd in their own field of study. Through such an approach, many stalemates in contemporary academic debates are thrown into a different light and return as material for further dialogue for researchers, if not simply solved. One example is Searle's Chinese Room problem, and the idea of artificial intelligence, where Basden's Dooyeweerdian distinguishing of the lingual-meaning and life-meaning salvages the stalled discussion. The introductory chapters of this book is a concise alternative to Kalsbeek's Contours of a Christian philosophy and Clouser's Myth of Religious Neutrality, both longer and more detailed (or even Dooyeweerd's own magnum opus, A New Critique of Theoretical Thought). As a contribution to Dooyeweerdian literation `in application' to a specific set of problems we encounter in the lifeworld, this book follows Brandon and Lombardi's Evaluating Sustainable Development in the Built Environment, where Dooyeweerdian thought is applied to urban planning. It is a pleasure to see such a book join a long tradition that is certainly to be extended beyond the present.