Abstract

The term angeletics comes from greek angelos/angelia, meaning messenger/messages. We use these terms when we refer to angels or divine messengers. There is a long tradition in theology and religious studies called angelology. Angeletics is in this regard different from angelology. Its purpose is to study the phenomenon of messages and messengers within the boundaries of the condition humaine, having as its primary object human communication but including technical and natural processes as well. For the philosophers of the Enlightenment, such as Immanuel Kant, the censorship-free distribution of scientific knowledge through the press belongs to the core of a free society. The question today is then to what extent the internet creates a new angeletic space giving rise to new synergies of messages and messengers beyond the hierarchical structure of mass media. Throughout this book angeletics is the general term used for the cultural, social and philosophical phenomenon of messages and messengers while ›messaging theory‹ is used more specifically for the phenomenon’s scientific and technological aspects. This publication has a bipartite structure: The first part, ›Foundations‹, deals with basic ideas of angeletics, its fundamental tenets, interpretations and presuppositions. The second part, ›Applications‹, illustrates these ideas through contributions from several experts in related fields such as bio-informatics, media studies, communication philosophy, information science, physics, classical studies, General Systems Theory and linguistics which shine a critical light on angeletics and at the same time develop it in various directions.