Abstract
We have no choice but to face a complex array of phenomena in our contemporaryexistence, each of which defies simplification to a singular, simple or unique sourceof agency. This assertion, though readily apparent, carries significant weight inshaping our present-day experience: global climate change, extensive culturaland religious conflicts, societal divisions, pandemics, and the emergence of moreadvanced artificial intelligence all elude explanation through the once-cherishedideal of a solitary, expert perspective championed by the sciences during the modernera.
And while we may have a desire to align ourselves with the established struc-tures of the past, such as the revered orders and hierarchies championed by theEnlightenment and modernity, wefind that their legitimacy and power to convinceare slipping through our grasp.1A pivotal consequence of modernity, as demonstrated by sociologists Ulrich Beck(1986) and Anthony Giddens (1990), and eloquently translated into the philosophicallanguage by Peter Sloterdijk (1995), manifests as a specific form ofuncertainty.Within this context, the strong idea of progressive scientific knowledge (and societalemancipation) remains entwined with the image of enduring hope of technologicalsalvation, which stands as the bedrock of our steadfast faith. We persist in ouraspiration that forthcoming scientific (or political) advancements will offer timelyremedies to contemporary challenges.
However, when confronted with the multi-faceted phenomena mentioned earlier, we recognize the imperative of adopting aninductive, collaborative and communal approach. Thus, our daily experienceconsistently highlights what (Peircean) semiotics always emphasizes, that knowl-edge always possesses a communal character.