Hubert Dreyfus, a philosophy professor at the University of California at Berkeley, says people who live their lives on the Internet are anonymous spectators who take no risks.
Dreyfus spoke to more than 70 people Thursday during a lecture titled, "Anonymity vs. Commitment in the Present Age: Kierkegaard on the Dangers of the Internet."
Dreyfus earned his bachelor's degree, master's and doctorate from Harvard University and has taught at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brandeis, the College of France and Frankfurt University. His lecture was part of the O'Neil lectures in history of philosophy sponsored by the UNM Department of Philosophy.
His presentation included a discussion of the influence of 19th-century philosopher, Sîren Kierkegaard. Dreyfus dedicates the entire last chapter of his book, "On the Internet," to Kierkegaard.
"We'll say he was a philosopher, but Kierkegaard would call himself an existential thinker," Dreyfus said.
He said Kierkegaard believed the press, or daily newspapers, make Christianity impossible and cause the public to become increasingly democratized.
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"A member of the public can have an opinion about anything but won't usually make an action for that opinion," Dreyfus said. "Kierkegaard says that no single person who belongs to the public makes a commitment."
Dreyfus said this is the point where Kierkegaard's principles can be applied to something as high-tech as the Internet.
"The Internet doesn't require expertise and actually undermines expertise," he said.
"Kierkegaard says people have to have an infinite passion which includes an unconditional commitment to something."
Dreyfus said this idea is similar to Dante's love of Beatrice in "The Divine Comedy," because Beatrice is Dante's savior and has an unconditional commitment to her by loving her.
Dreyfus said he dedicated an entire chapter to Kierkegaard because he agrees with many of his ideas.
"I think his critique of the Internet is most convincing and original," he said. "His proposal of what to do about it, the trivialism effect of the Internet, is also most original and convincing."
Josiah Simon, a UNM student majoring in philosophy and German, said he enjoyed the way Dreyfus showed how Kierkegaard's principles can still be applied today.
"Since I've studied Kierkegaard, I think a lot of his principles are relative to problems we are having in our world today," Simon said. "I wish the auditorium was packed because he's really a top intellectual, but I guess people would rather sit in front of a computer than get out and pay attention to a lecture."
Russell Goodman, a UNM philosophy professor, helped select Dreyfus for the lecture series.
"He's one of the most creative interpreters of the last 200 years of philosophy," he said.
Goodman said that Iain Thomson, a UNM assistant professor in the philosophy department, was a student of Dreyfus' and made it easier to contact him.
Dreyfus said he was pleased but not elated with the turnout for the lecture.
"There was a lot more audience interaction with his talk, and I think this really shows how philosophy is relevant to something as contemporary as the Internet," Goodman said. "He really makes philosophy come alive."
Although Dreyfus came for the lecture, he said he is also going to enjoy the sights New Mexico has to offer.
"Iain is one of my favorite students, so my wife is coming with us to travel around the desert," he said.
Dreyfus said the question and answer session was terrific.
"They asked the hardest questions, and I gave the best answers - if I do say so myself," Dreyfus said. "I feel very inspired by the intense interest I could see in the audience."
Dreyfus will give another lecture today in the Anthropology Building, Room 163, at 3:30 p.m. titled, "What Could be More Intelligible Than Everyday Intelligibility?"
