Editorial

Maria Laura Bettencourt Pires

Research output: Contribution to journalEditorial

Abstract

The theme of this editorial is a reflection about the impact of the new technologies in our world. Although a short time ago no one thought about it the truth is that the iPad, tablets and smartphones have been destroying thousands of years of traditions related to paper and that newspapers and print magazines are disappearing. There are, however, some who say that there is still interest for printing but, as a matter of fact, it is another type of printing, which can be considered an emergent market and is designated as cloud printing. It is obvious that the new generations read less newspapers and books and look for other sources of information, knowledge and entertainment, like the Internet, that however doesn't mean they read less but that there is a shift in their readin g habits. It is not only a methodological change but also an epistemological transformation. To reflect on this topic, we must also mention the negative contemporary criticisms of Bernard Stiegler and Giorgio Agamben and, before that, those of John Dewey - who complained of what he designated as the "spectator conception of knowledge"- and also Merleau-Ponty´s disapproval. Regarding the historical scope of the theme, we have to be conscious that both Plato and Aristotle, as later Ortega y Gasset, mentioned the historical construction of visuality and the nature of its transference. We can thus conclude that every epoch, just like ours, has been criticized due to its epistemological options and I bring this editorial to a close quoting a written censure by Feuerbach in the 19th century and a visual and pictorial one from the 16 th century by Arcimboldo.
Original languagePortuguese
Pages (from-to)6-23
Number of pages18
JournalGaudium Sciendi
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2012

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