Introduction – Phenomenology and virtuality

摘要

Our age is typified by technology (KroesandMeijers, 2016), but it is the question of the virtual that has particularly come to the forefront at the turn of the century. The contemporary era of emergent digital technologies has seen the multiplication of virtual spaces – our civilisations are indeed steeped in the virtual – which has resulted in complex changes to the dimensions of our existence and experience. While thinkers such as Baudrillard (1981) emphasise a dichotomous relationship between reality and virtual reality, the enmeshed character of modern individuals within emergent virtual spaces may call into question the continuing relevance of such oppositions.