On the Internet

On the Internetis a sharp and stimulating discussion of the promises of the internet. Going beyond the hype of the cybercrowd, Dreyfus, a celebrated writer on philosophy and technology, asks whether the internet can really bring humanity to a new level of community and solve the problems of mass education. Drawing on a diverse array of thinkers from Plato to Kierkegaard,On the Internetis one of the first books to bring philosophical insight to the debate on how far the internet can and cannot take us. In discussing recent studies on the isolation experienced by many internet users, Dreyfus shows how the internet's privatization of experience ignores essential human capacities such as trust, moods, risk, shared local concerns and commitment.

Hubert L. Dreyfus is Professor of Philosophy in the Graduate School at the University of California at Berkeley.