Informational development: A new form of human development in future society

Abstract

This paper aims to propose a new form of human development: informational development. Informational development, different from traditional human development, focuses on understanding, interpreting, and promoting human development in terms of information and informational relations. “Informational” here is not only a word denoting something related to data in information science & library science, but also a state, a way, or a form of human development opposing to “material”. According to the Chinese philosophy of information, all things are composed of matter and information, so there are two forms of human development, i.e., material development and informational development accordingly, but we have never noticed the informational development before. In this paper, I have provided the philosophical arguments for informational development in five aspects, including ontology, epistemology, evolution theory, thinking theory, and value theory. The conclusion of the paper is, informational development is a new form of human development, which is suitable for humans to survive and develop in the future society, so we should focus on the informational changes, examine the informational contents, and grasp the informational state of human development, and understand, interpret, and promote human development in terms of information and informational relations, thus finally achieving the free, all-round, and sustainable development of all humans.