TRN Digital Animism
The Thematic Research Network Digital Animism examines the multifaceted attributions of subjectivity from an interdisciplinary perspective. Funded as part of the Excellence Initiative, the network is developing a joint research program in its second phase, which will result in a publication and a more extensive collaborative project.
Objectives
The network examines practices in which digital systems are used as subjects or quasi-subjects, using paradigmatic case vignettes from the medical field.
The primary objective is to describe and analyze digital animistic practices with the help of theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches from the participating disciplines, followed by an ethical and normative assessment.
The practical research goal of the network is to further develop descriptive perspectives, identify research gaps, and deepen cooperative relationships among the FoF 3 disciplines, within the rest of the university, and beyond. In particular, the network will continue to contribute to expanding and profiling the FoF 3's focus areas of physicality/embodiment and (human-machine) interaction.
In terms of concrete output, the network aims to
- identify specific research projects with the goal of developing disciplinary research projects (dissertations, etc.) and interdisciplinary collaborative research projects and drafting corresponding project proposals;
- interdisciplinary networking and intertwining perspectives, presenting this networking in an appropriate manner (see 3. below);
- exploratory work on data in the project group, publication of the results in a suitable manner (special journal issue or book publication) in preparation for a joint research proposal.
Results from Phase 1
Dimensions of the concept
- Practical animism: Phenomena of attributing subject quality to digital systems
- Reverse animism: Repercussions of the same on the subject position of human actors
- Animism by design: Analysis of the regulation of subject formality in digital systems through their programming
In this way, he makes an original contribution to the debate on the anthropology and ethics of AI that goes beyond established concepts of anthropomorphism or techno-animism.
Interdisciplinary connectivity
The term meaningfully links approaches and analytical categories from ethnology and social anthropology, philosophy, psychology and psychiatry, linguistics, cultural and social sciences, technical sciences, and ethics within a common interdisciplinary framework.
Suitability for research contexts
The term is suitable for empirical operationalization and thus for the cooperative generation and analysis of data. Compared to previous descriptions, it allows for a more detailed and phenomenon-rich description of human-machine interaction.
Normative sensitivity
With the category of subjectification or (attributed) subject quality, the concept of digital animism is also highly sensitive to the normative aspects of the debate. It allows questions of deception and violation of dignity, trustworthy AI and human-centeredness, as well as the ethics of medical professions, to be addressed explicitly, but with a new set of descriptive tools.