Digital hermeneutics as hermeneutics of the self

ABSTRACT: In this article, the author deals with the status of the self and personal identity in the digital milieu. In the first section, he presents his general approach to digital media and technologies, which he has called “digital hermeneutics.” He distinguishes between three perspectives in digital hermeneutics, namely the deconstructive, epistemological, and ontological approaches. In the second part, he focuses on digital hermeneutics as hermeneutics of the self. He compares Paul Ricoeur’s narrative identity to Pierre Bourdieu’s habitus. His first thesis is that the habitus can be seen as a concept of subjectivation that neglects an important part of the subject. Narrative identity offers, in this sense, a remedy to such negligence. His second thesis is that today’s digital media and technologies are closer to the Bourdieusian habitus than to the Ricoeurian narrative identity. In other words, digital machines and technologies are “habitus machines” both in their structure and in their effects.

摘要：本文探讨了数字场域中的自我与人格同一性议题。在第一部分，作者阐述了其针对数字媒介与技术的一般性研究路径，即其所提出的“数字解释学（digital hermeneutics）”，并区分了该框架下的三类研究视角：解构主义视角、认识论视角与本体论视角。在第二部分，作者将研究聚焦于作为自我解释学的数字解释学，将保罗·利科（Paul Ricoeur）的叙事同一性与皮埃尔·布迪厄（Pierre Bourdieu）的“惯习（habitus）”进行对比分析。作者的第一个核心论点为：惯习可被视作一种主体化概念，但该概念忽视了主体的重要构成部分；就此而言，叙事同一性可弥补这一理论疏漏。作者的第二个核心论点则提出，当下的数字媒介与技术更贴近布迪厄式惯习，而非利科式叙事同一性。换言之，数字机器与技术无论在结构层面还是作用效果层面，都属于“惯习机器（habitus machines）”。