The Uruguayan-born philosopher Rafael Capurro has spent the majority of his working life in Germany, where he retired as Professor of Information Science and Information Ethics at Stuttgart Media University in 2009, but is still active in the field. He has a distinguished academic reputation as one of the ‘pioneers of information philosophy’ (p. 1), and much of his work, which is deeply rooted in the European hermeneutical tradition, has focussed on the ethics of information, the situating of information science firmly within its human context, seeing information as an act of interpretation rather than as an objective given. One of his contributions to the field is the concept of ‘angeletics’ (derived from Greek angelos = messenger), which places the ‘message’ at the centre of the communication process, in a way which was underplayed by earlier communication theorists, and draws attention to the ways in which it socially constructed.
The present Festschrift, edited by Matthew Kelly and Jared Beilby, brings together work by 35 scholars from a wide range of interrelated disciplines based on six continents, and thus demonstrates the depth and extent of Capurro’s intellectual influence. After a substantial and informative introduction by the editors, which summarises Capurro’s life and work and establishes a framework for what follows, the essays themselves are organised into six sections on specific themes which engage with different aspects of Capurro’s work. These are: Culture and Philosophy of Information, the longest section, which specifically covers ontological questions about the nature of information; Information Ethics, which is more focussed on questions of social responsibility and professional practice in the information process; From Information to Message, which reflects on and applies Capurro’s concept of ‘angeletics’; Historic and Semiotic Themes, looking at the historical context of information practice; Resisting International Hegemony, which visits the relationship between information and the cultural logic of market economics; and finally, Futures: Information Education, which looks at Capurro’s ideas in the context of undergraduate education and academic research culture.
It is difficult to do justice to this volume’s scope and complexity in a short review, yet the collection, more than many Festschrifts, by showing the numerous paths opened by Capurro’s work, is somehow larger than the sum of its parts. The considerable variety of disciplinary approaches, from philosophy and information science, to art history, historical textual analysis, cultural studies and education makes the book very stimulating, and the occasional density of the argument well repays the effort required to understand it. The multiple issues which the volume raises and discusses are not only theoretical, but also urgent for the practical development of both information science and library and information practice. As digital cultures increasingly dominate, it is important to maintain Capurro’s persistent emphasis on the human and social elements of the information world.
Curtin University
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© 2016 David Wells
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00048623.2016.1262731