Internet as a network or hierarchical structure: concept of network in postmodern philosophy and social science of the late XX – early XXI centuries

Abstract

This article is dedicated to philosophical analysis of the phenomena and concepts of network and hierarchy. In philosophy of the postmodern theoreticians, hierarchical structures are subjected to criticism. Thus, one of the brightest images of non-hierarchical organization – rhizome – was suggested by G, Deleuze and F. Guattari in the context of their opposition to the traditional hierarchical image of a tree, which was attributed by the philosophers to the basis of Western culture and civilization. Criticism of hierarchical organization is associated with “dissolution” of a subject. The article analyzes the current state of computer networks and Internet for correspondence to the concept of “network”. The theoreticians of postmodernism associate the promotion of the concept of network with the postmodern reconsideration of a subject, since from now on it does not originate culture, but is originated and inscribed into one of the multiple cultural texts, and none of these texts does not have an advantage over others. The task of retaining integrity of the subject is no longer inherently valued, since any value of the subject simultaneously means establishing the hierarchy of events and occurrences around it. Therefore, the reverse action to integration becomes dissolution, associated with spread of the concept of network. The perception of Internet as a network in philosophy and social sciences is based on the desire to find confirmation to the theoretical model of network. But the Internet in many ways reproduces hierarchical structure within itself, which leaves open the question on the existence of nonhierarchical structures.