Pragmatic Media Philosophy
Foundations of a New Discipline in the Internet Age
by Mike Sandbothe, sandbothe.net 2005 (German original appeared as "Pragmatische Medienphilosophie. Grundlegung einer neuen Disziplin im Zeitalter des Internet", Weilerswist: Velbrück Wissenschaft 2001).
The full text is available as a pdf file (1.2MB). Click here to download.
Reviews:
"Pragmatische Medienphilosophie is a remarkable work of intellectual synthesis. It offers both a very clear and well-informed account of recent trends in metaphilosophy and an equally lucid account of the state of the new discipline of 'media studies'." - Richard Rorty
"The book attempts for the first time to draw up a systematic conception of media philosophy as a philosophical discipline. Its aim is thus not only to attain an adequate understanding of the media problematic, but also – in the spirit of the pragmatic perspective – to contribute prospectively in shaping the current media transformation." - Wolfgang Welsch
"Mike Sandbothe’s Pragmatic Media Philosophy is the attempt innovatively to link two of the most up-to-date strands of debate in contemporary philosophy with one another and to explain each in terms of the other: the neopragmatic discourse (which arose from the crisis of the analytic project) and philosophical media theory. The result of this undertaking is convincing." - Ludwig Nagl
"Sandbothe’s polemic calls for a reorientation towards a pragmatically understood active use of reason, one that not only puts forward sophisticated claims, but is capable of guiding changes. Hence his investigation is not only a call to reason, but – understandably – also lays claim to a position of its own within professional philosophy." - Lorenz Engell
"Against the standard cultural-studies theses of media and corresponding technological aprioris Mike Sandbothe rightly emphasizes the need for a yet-to-be-achieved foundation of media philosophy, and in so doing draws attention to a fundamental theoretical deficit – that of the grounding, of the legitimacy of the discourse itself. His approach, based on an extensive survey of the entire media-theoretical landscape, attempts in particular to develop a dialogue between ‘theoreticist’ and ‘pragmatic’ perspectives." - Dieter Mersch
"Hence philosophy too is attributed a place in the movement which runs through the whole strategy of pragmatic media philosophy. Philosophy itself becomes a tool, it is ordered within something larger than itself: the endeavour to carry forward the project of democracy in search of a better future." - Jan Janzen