分断から「やわらぎ」としての自由へ --SNSによる社会分断助長への哲学的応答--

Abstract

The development of the Internet has enabled us to access a wide range of information and has facilitated online interactions that were previously unavailable. On the other hand, social networking services (SNS) have allegedly been exacerbating social polarization by incubating epistemically insular and bias amplifying environments such as filter bubbles and echo chambers, while allowing the rapid and effortless spread of fake news. In response, there has been an urgent call to establish regulatory frameworks. Devising such a framework requires philosophical reflection, as we need to envision a desirable society that harmoniously integrates ICT. Indeed, the negative effects of SNS and potential solutions have been widely discussed in philosophy. There remains, however, a lack of clarity regarding precisely what the fundamental problem is. This paper suggests that it lies in reconfiguring the notion of freedom. Our diagnosis is that existing discussions are often conceptually hampered by the conventional application of established conceptions of freedom. To illustrate this, the paper considers the Kantian autonomy-based approach and the doctrine of the “free marketplace of ideas.” We argue that discussions based on these two conceptions of freedom are not effectively capturing the current situation. Instead, we propose that the notion of freedom, as developed in Yasuo Deguchi's ‘Self-as-We, ' might offer a more suitable conceptual framework for effectively addressing the challenges we are facing.