The Media Ecology–Philosophy of Technology disconnect: A matter of perception?

Abstract

Abstract This article conducts a discourse analysis of a selection of in-depth interviews with philosophers of technology housed within Figure/Ground (www.figureground.org), an open-source, para-academic, interdisciplinary collaboration supporting one of the largest repositories of scholarly interviews on the web. By analysing various answers to a set of recurrent questions, the article provides a general sense of how Marshall McLuhan – often identified as one of the forefathers of Media Ecology – is perceived by the neighbouring field of Philosophy of Technology. The underlining hypothesis is that, despite significant cross-disciplinary affinities made evident by a recent philosophical turn in McLuhan studies, the lack of collaborative engagement between both camps, particularly among senior scholars, remains quite significant. As the interviews show, this gap can be attributed, in part, to a matter of (mis)perception on behalf of the philosophers: their reservations stem primarily from McLuhan’s controversial public statements, public persona and idiosyncratic use of language, as well as an outdated (deterministic/substantivist) approach to his oeuvre. Nevertheless, the interviews do not strictly reflect any substantial differences – whether theoretical or methodological – that would justify an ongoing disconnect between both fields.