The demon in the gap of language: Capurro, ethics and language in divided Germany

Abstract

The following philosophical study is centered in three dimensions: a historical epistemology; a hermeneutics of information studies; and a pragmatic analysis of philosophical and scientific concepts Being stage one of the project "Following trivium: the philosophy of Library and Information Science in the philosophical tradition of language," it sets out a proposal whose aim is to debate the various conceptualizations of the relationship between the epistemological and the ethical thoughts of Rafael Capurro Its context resides in a body of studies in information philosophy and ethics developed in the discourses around language, politics and technique in contemporary society The general objective of the research presented is a discussion of how and in what spirit Capurro elaborated his thinking about the problems and the challenges inherent to an intercultural ethics It will be argued that the hermeneutical basis of the following study must be understood within the context of Capurro’s ethics by retracing the path he followed-the spirit of his course-and in the context of the spirit of a 1980s Germany where Capurro prepares his "ethics " In addition, it will be argued that in order to understand the Capurrian ethics of information, one must first understand the epistemological pathway of documentation and the bibliological field in general Finally, we will outline how the above development of understanding must start from the language that permeates the construction of relevant historical elements The use of Wim Wenders’ cinematographic work as a discursive resource in this study relates, precisely, to the hermeneutical order of the proposal The function of Wings of Desire in this study is to indicate and suggest the beginnings of understanding the "spirit" of time and space through which Rafael Capurro establishes his preparation and the preparation of his concepts Keeping in mind the difficulties of extension, the articulation of the epistemological, hermeneutical and pragmatic perspectives looks for a conceptual vocabulary of Capurro’s ethics, of the bibliographical reasons for the construction of such a model, of the discussion about the limits of the researcher’s ethical thinking and of the recognition of the position of transcultural ethics in the information science (IS) epistemology.