Anonymity versus Commitment: the dangers of education on the Internet

• Published in: Educational philosophy and theory Vol. 34; no. 4; pp. 369 - 378
• Main Author: Dreyfus, Hubert L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Taylor & Francis Group 01.11.2002; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Wiley-Blackwell
• Subjects: Aesthetics; Commitment (Psychology); Computer assisted teaching; Computer-assisted instruction; Computers; Criticism; Educational philosophy; Ethics; Expertise; Hypertext; Information; Information literacy; Information Technology; Internet; Kierkegaard (S); Kierkegaard, Soren; Knowledge (Theory); Network culture; Online education; Religion; Role
• ISSN: 0013-1857; 1469-5812
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-5812.2002.tb00510.x

This article translates Kierkegaard's account of the dangers and opportunities of what is called 'The Press' into a critique of 'The Internet' so as to raise the question: what contribution, for good or ill, can the World Wide Web, with its capacity to deliver vast amounts of information to users all over the world, make to educators trying to pass on knowledge and to develop skills in their students? It then uses Kierkegaard's three-stage answer to the problem of anonymity and lack of involvement posed by the press, his claim that to have a meaningful life the learner must pass through the aesthetic, the ethical and the religious spheres of existence, to suggest that only the first two stages, the aesthetic and the ethical, can be implemented with information technology, while the religious stage, which alone makes meaningful learning possible, is undermined rather than supported by the tendencies of the Net. [Author extracts, ed