No abstract

To overcome ''digital reductionism,ÕÕ a new kind of mechanical view on human beings, fundamental informatics provides some critical viewpoints. It regards information as ''meaningÕÕ generated in living things which do not exist alone but are parts of ecological system. On the other hand, V. E. Frankl proposed two dimensions of humans: homo sapiens and homo patiens. The latter is the essential aspect of humans whose essence is ''compassion,ÕÕ while the former is the nature like a mechanical machine. As features of living things, unrestricted ability of interpretation as well as inseparable relationships between others underlies both in FranklÕs thought and fundamental informatics. This viewpoint can be applied to the concept of ''information literacy.ÕÕ

Rafael Capurro is one of the pioneers of the hermeneutic approach to information studies, especially with regard to ethical issues. One of the main goals of his study is to understand “ethos” in the information society. Capurro’s ideas concerning the information technology are different from those of Dreyfus although they both have hermeneutic viewpoints. The scope of his study is widened in his latest study named “angeletics” which means “message studies.” Angeletics, hermeneutics, and mediology are complementary to each other. Capurro’s idea concerning ethics in the information age is based on “technologies of the self” which are not “act-oriented” but “self-oriented.” It is also expected that interactions between Capurro and Japanese thought patterns produce some important contributions to information ethics.

This paper explores the difference between companion animals and domestic livestock from the viewpoint of neo-cybernetical informatics, referring to an educational trial which was to raise a young pig for eating. The problem in this trial is based on an informatic difference between seeing a pig as a friend and as food in daily lives. Our behavior as being a communicational actor should be distinguished from just being a non-communicational sign interpreter because we can assume ethical norms as long as a communication system continuously operates. This argument can be a starting point for developing a new discussion on ethical issues, not in terms of the difference of intelligence or the importance of lives, but in terms of the possibility of construction of a communication system with us.