Ethical issues in today's information society from a Spinoza perspective

Abstract

Introduction This work aims to discuss some characteristic devices of the information society through Spinoza's Ethics. Methods. Qualitative analysis using concepts such as power or potentia, forces, "moraline" power devices, normalisation and other concepts from Spinoza and his followers. Analysis. We define Spinoza's Ethics as amoral and a posteriori, supported not by moral judgments, but by ethical reflections on increasing and decreasing power (potentia). The paper illustrates ethical issues of the information society and analyses them through Spinoza's philosophy including access to information, welfare and social networks, universal standards of happiness, simulations of stereotypes (real life versus social networks), promoting constant consumption, providing personal data with and without consent, surveillance of citizens by the states under the aegis of biopower and the need for privacy. Results. Finally, we conclude that Spinoza's Ethics aims to contextualise these phenomena and not evaluate them in advance and, as such, can serve as a basis for discussing the ethical demands of the information society.