Engaging with and enriching humanist thought: the case of information systems

Basden, A

Abstract

Those who believe that explicitly Christian thinking is possible in the scientific disciplines tend to assume that it must be antithetical to the world’s thinking. Based on
some of the author’s experience, this article examines a different approach, in which Christian thinking is used to account for and enrich the world’s thinking by transplanting
it from its current ground-motive (usually that of nature-freedom) into the arguably more fertile soil of the creation-fall-redemption ground-motive.

The article shows how Dooyeweerd’s version of Christian thinking has been employed in two areas of thinking in information systems (selected from five with which the author has been involved): (1) thinking about the nature of computers and information, with the artificial intelligence question of whether computer is like human being (2) soft systems methodology, by which perspectives on ‘human activity systems’ are orchestrated into new learning and plans. In both areas, the original ideas are accounted for, given philosophical underpinning, reinterpreted and enriched. These two show that Dooyeweerd’s philosophy can be equally useful in thinking grounded in both positivist and interpretivist cultures.

Citation

Basden, A. (2008). Engaging with and enriching humanist thought: the case of information systems

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2008
• Deposit Date: Nov 29, 2010
• Journal: Philosophia Reformata
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 73
• Pages: 132-153
• Publisher URL: http://www.philosophia-reformata.org/content/home