The Semantic Sphere 1: Computation, Cognition and Information Economy

Chapter 5

Toward an Epistemological Transformation of the Human Sciences

This chapter presents the study of human development, in broad terms, as one of the main objects of the human sciences. If human development depends even partly on the advancement of the human sciences, then increasing the capacity of these fields to produce, disseminate and manage knowledge effectively is crucial. I therefore intend in the following pages to analyze the epistemological weaknesses of the contemporary social sciences and literary studies, in contrast with the maturity of the “natural” sciences. Far from limiting myself to this negative observation, I will show that full use of the data, calculating power and collaborative tools of the digital medium could lead to a veritable scientific revolution in the human sciences in the 21st Century. It will not, however, be possible to reach this goal unless we adopt a common system of semantic coordinates that leads to better knowledge management (KM) and to theories (and even works) that can be expressed in terms of calculable functions. The chapter ends with a cautionary note against a positivistic scientism that would overly objectify the results of the human sciences, even after such a scientific revolution, since what is known here is the expression of knowing subjects.

5.1. The stakes of human development

Many official reports from governments and international agencies have identified the digital revolution not only as a factor that is destabilizing ...