Heidegger, hypermedia, and moral identity: a literature review of post-human being in a medated world

Abstract

Being human in a hypermediated world is cause to much confusion and debate, on an ontological as well as on a practical front. This study draws on the works of Martin Heidegger, Charles Taylor, Terry Eagleton, and Michel Foucault to argue about how we orient ourselves in a hypermediated world. The research question of this thesis is: what opportunities and threats does the use of contemporary information technologies hold for identity and authenticity. The results of a systematic literature review is reflected against the philosophical background of Martin Heidegger, Charles Taylor, Terry Eagleton, and Michel Foucault for comprehensive arguments about contemporary identity-building and the nature of authenticity and contemporary information technologies. Conceptual papers, qualitative researches, and philosophical papers are searched and systematically narrowed down to form the data for this thesis. A modified form of the Fink model for systematic literature review is used to gather the articles used. The nature and relations of information technology, technologies of the self, authenticity and identity as tools which disclose our lifeworld and help us orient ourselves morally as post-humans in a hypermediated world is inspected in light of the findings in this thesis.