Digital Confucianism: A Confucian Take on Computation and Algorithm
Mirage, 2014, Ralf Baecker, mixed media
Symposium:
Session Title:
- Confusianism and Chinese Tradition in Digital Media
Presentation Title:
- Digital Confucianism: A Confucian Take on Computation and Algorithm
Presenter(s):
Abstract:
Abstract (short paper)
The paper attempts to open up the conceptual framework of Confucianism to accommodate questions relevant to today’s digital society. Both Confucian and Whiteheadian philosophy favor processuality to fixed entities in analyzing beings and phenomena of the world. Hence, computational algorithmic processes, or “computational thinking,” can be recast in light of the concurrent Neo-Confucian notions of qi and gan, as well as Whiteheadian notions of prehension and speculative reason. Computation, qua adding new data that alter the initial condition, manifests speculative reason, which resonates with Neo-Confucian view of change as the nature and order of being. The paper concludes with an artistic work substantiating this analysis.
Full text (PDF) p. 374-377
