Zen and the art of ignoring information

Bibliographic Data

ID11373199
AuthorsChris Arthur (University of Wales Trinity Saint David, corresponding author)
Year1993
Volume9
Issue1
Pages51-60
Publication date1993-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Information Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0197-2243 • E-ISSN: 1087-6537
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01972243.1993.9960131
OpenAlexW2035234612
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited19

This article explores some of the tensions that exist between information and religion. Attention is drawn to the concern which is sometimes voiced that the saving transformation which religious teachings variously purport to offer, may be indefinitely postponed by a preoccupation with information. To counteract this possibility, religions act as information‐limiting devices by focusing the individual's attention on a level of concern consonant with the fundamental changes which they seek to bring about. Paradoxically, though, both the nature of the questions asked at this level and the experiences that underlie the authority of the answers that religions give, make it difficult (from a logical point of view) to set limits on the amount of information that might be considered religiously relevant. Reference is made to the important role of silence in religious traditions and to a modem call for the reintroduction of silence into communication, in order to counter “information pollution.” Such demands fail to take account of the fact that it is precisely those areas of religion where silence occurs that are most productive of new information

Aesthetics · Business · Epistemology · Law and economics · Limiting · Order (exchange · Perception · Point (geometry · Set (abstract data type · Silence · Sociology · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Computer Science · Media, Religion, Digital Communication · Philosophy · Theology and Philosophy of Evil

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