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146 Herbert Hrachovec

greater importance. Exchanging texts and arguments on an equal
footing is, after all, an elementary philosophical gesture which will
be heavily affected by the possibilities opened up by the Internet.
I have not hidden my ambivalence concerning the promises of a
digital wonderland. Reviewing the dynamics of three mailing lists
allows the reasons for a skeptical attitude to emerge more clearly.
Some features of the new discursive forms are incompatible with the
current educational system. Expecting strictly focused discussion
within a twenty-four hour show is bound to prove disappointing.
There is, on the other hand, no way to beat mailing lists when it
comes to addressing a world-wide audience and (albeit in a rather
specific sense) implementing the principles of universality often dis-
cussed in philosophical treatises. Theoretical activities have sud-
denly become available within the framework of a mass medium,
and it is far from clear how this encounter is going to work out. The
Net is not the most natural habitat for German-language philoso-
phers. It is, in fact, yet undecided who its typical inhabitants will
turn out to be. In the meantime, most are new kids, sporadically at
unease and frequently sounding strange.

Notes

This manuscript appeared originally in the Electronic Journal of
Communication/La revue electronique de communication, 8 (3 & 4), 1998
(see <http://www.cios.org/www/ejcrec2.htm>) and is reprinted by kind per-
mission of the editors.
1. For technical information see Tanenbaum (1996). The motto is
taken from Shields (1996, 131).

2. The list is archived at <http://hhobel.phl.univie.ac.at/gl>. Andreas
Krier, Oliver Marchart, Gabriele Resl, Horst Tellioglu and Monika Wun-
derer have been most helpful in making give-l an exciting place. Thanks to
all of them.
3. Cf. <http://hhobel.phl.univie.ac.at/real/realarch>.
4. For information see <http://www.sozialwiss.uni-hamburg.de/phil/
ag/philweb.html>.
5. Mitchell (1995, 6–24) includes a fine phenomenological description
of this feature of electronic agoras.

6. For an overview of the general principles of digital socialisation
see Baym (1995).