The Secret Message of the Medium
The hermeneutic tradition and the present media situation Gabriella Hima
(Debrecen)
The materialism of informatic theory assigns to literature merely technical
functions. The author is no longer the producer of a meaning but a strictly
operational acting subject who chooses, saves transmits etc. the signs.
The signs beyond any signification have a semantic-free, purely physical
aspect. The materiality of the sign and the operationality of its mediation
subvert the communication because of the effects not intended by the author.
This results in two kinds of statements: an intended and a non-intended
one. The latter, the autonomous message of the medium, lies ootside the
human area. McLuhan‘s utopia about Understanding Media presupposes a hermeneutic
and anthropomorphic approach in relation to the media. The actual subject-hostile
discourse on the theory of media rejects this idea: The media as the technical
apriori of any understanding cannot be understood. Thus the hermeneutic
tradition is unable to come to terms with the present media-situation.
In my paper I will try to discuss such questions as: is a rehumanization
of the (technical) media possible; what could be the effects of the non-predictable
and non-controllable meaning-potential on the claim of scientific truth
and on the human knowledge?
Papers held at the conference "Knowledge Networking in Cultural
Studies" are published in